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21  1918 


PROFESSOR  B.  B.   EDWARDS, 


WITH  A  MEMOIR 


EDWARDS    A.    PAR  K 

IN    TWO    VOLUMES. 
VOL.      II. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND   COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND,   OHIO: 
JEWETT,   PROCTOR,   AND   WORTHINGTON. 

LONDON:    SAMPSON   LOW,  SON,   &  CO. 

1853. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

John  P.  Jewett  and  Company, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Coiu't  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE:    M  E  T  C  A  L  P    AND    COMPANY, 
PRINTERS  TO   TUB    UNIVERSITY. 


CONTENTS  0¥  VOL.  II. 


ESSAYS:   ADDRESSES:   LECTURES. 
I. 

PAGE 
THE   ROMAN    CATHOLIC   RELIGION    IN    ITALY        ....  1 

II. 

SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE 44 

III. 

ROMAN    SLAVERY    IN    THE    EARLY    CENTURIES    OF    THE    CHRIS- 
TIAN   ERA 79 

IV. 

SLAVERY   IN    THE   JIIDDLE   AGES .113 

V. 
CLASSICAL   STUDIES 131 

VI. 

FEMALE   EDUCATION 148 

VII. 

THE    POETRY   OF   WORDSWORTH 183 

VIII. 

REASONS   FOR   THE    STUDY    OF   THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE  .  .      206 


IV  CONTENTS. 

IX. 

EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OP    THE    BIBLE  ....      234 

AUTHENTICITY   AND    GENUINENESS   OF    THE    PENTATEUCH      .  281 

1.  The  Importance  of  Caution  in  an  Inquiry  of  this  Nature    .  288 

2.  Historical  Scepticism  less  Prevalent  now  than  formerly    .  291 

3.  Credibility  of  the  Jewish  Historians 303 

4.  Early  Origin  of  Alphabetic  Writing  ....  306 

5.  The  Language  and  Style  of  the  Pentateuch  do  not  prove  its 

later  Origin 327 

6.  The  Command  of  God  in  Respect  to  tlic  Destruction  of  the 

Canaanites  vindicated 342 

XI. 

THE    IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES 364 

XII. 

HEBREW    POETRY 384 

XIII. 
IMPORTANCE   OF   A   THOROUGH   THEOLOGICAL   EDUCATION  .      414 

XIV. 

CHRISTIANS     SHOULD     STUDY      THE      PROFOUNDER    MYSTERIES 

OF    THEIR    FAITH '  .  .  .  .      435 

XV. 

COLLATERAL  SIGNS  OF  HUMAN  DEPRAVITY 454 

XVI. 

INFLUENCE    OF   EMINENT    PIETY    ON    THE   INTELLECTUAL  POW- 
ERS  472 


THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  RELIGION  IN  ITALY. 


Over  the  door  of  the  Basilica  of  St.  John  Lateran  in 
Rome  are  the  words  :  "  Sacro  sancta  Lateranensis  Ec- 
clesia,  omnium  urbis  et  orbis  Ecclesiarum  Mater  et  Caput." 
This  is  no  idle  boast.  The  realm  over  which  Augustus 
Csesar  swayed  his  sceptre  was  narrow,  compared  with  that  of 
his  spiritual  successor.  The  encyclical  letter  which  ema- 
nates from  the  Quirinal  Palace  is  addressed  to  one  half  the 
civilized  world,  and  binds  the  consciences  of  a  fourth  of  the 
human  race.  What  is  the  complexion  of  this  religion  at 
home  .''  What  are  its  features  when  seen  on  its  native  soil  ? 
Does  the  heart  of  the  great  system  beat  with  energy,  or 
does  it  give  signs  of  decay  and  dissolution  ?  We  are  natu- 
rally interested  in  visiting  the  spring  of  a  mighty  river,  in 
examining  the  elements  of  an  influence  that  has  shaped  the 
destiny  of  the  world  through  one  third  of  its  duration. 

When  viewed  historically  the  subject  is  one  of  extraordi- 

*  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Theological  Society,  Dartmouth 
College,  July  26,  the  Society  for  Religious  Inquiry,  University  of  Vei*- 
mont,  July  31,  and  the  Knowles  Rhetorical  Society,  Newton  Theolog- 
ical Institution,  August  22,  1848. 

VOL.    II.  1 


3  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

nary  interest.  It  is  often  said  that  men  are  never  aroused  in 
the  highest  degree,  except  on  religious  grounds  ;  that  to 
accomplish  a  great  and  difficult  political  object,  the  con- 
science must  be  invoked  ;  motives  that  reach  beyond  the 
grave  must  be  appealed  to.  In  Italy  this  complexity  of  mo- 
tives, this  intermingling  of  human  passions  with  the  awful 
sanctions  of  religion,  this  blending  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
interests,  have  been  witnessed  as  they  have  been  nowhere 
else.  Political  conspiracies  have  been  concealed  or  dis- 
closed on  pain  of  eternal  death.  The  darkest  crimes  against 
the  State  have  been  committed  on  the  promise  of  God's  for- 
giveness. The  police  have  found  their  readiest  coadjutors 
or  their  bitterest  foes  at  the  confessional.  Elsewhere  the 
State  has  trampled  on  the  Church.  In  other  countries,  the 
Church  is  the  obsequious  handmaid  of  the  political  power, 
is  chained  to  the  chariot-wheel  of  kings  and  cabinets.  In 
Rome  an  aged  priest  has  united  all  the  offices  of  the  Jewish 
theocracy.  Senators  and  armies,  councils  and  courts,  have 
done  the  bidding  of  a  superannuated  monk. 

The  extraordinary  events  which  have  rapidly  followed 
each  other,  and  which  are  now  occurring,  through  all  South- 
ern and  Western  Europe,  clothe  this  topic  with  especial 
interest.  What  effect  will  these  political  revolutions  exert 
on  the  established  and  dominant  religion  .''  Will  they  essen- 
tially weaken  its  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  people  ?  Will 
they  undermine  all  prescriptive  rights  ?  If  ecclesiastical 
reforms  shall  follow  in  the  train  of  those  which  are  muni- 
cipal or  civil,  will  such  reforms  endanger  the  supremacy  of 
the  Catholic  system  ?  Should  all  State  patronage  be  with- 
drawn, has  the  Church  a  recuperative  force  so  that  she 
could  adapt  herself  to  the  new  order  of  society  ?  Or,  if  the 
Catholic  system  should   be  utterly  subverted,  would  any 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  3 

desirable  form  of  Protestantism  take  its  place  ?  Would  the 
destruction  of  that  old  hierarchy  put  an  end  to  the  spirit  of 
bigotry  and  persecution  ?  Wherein  is  a  radical  and  nomi- 
nal Protestantism  better  than  that  ancient  church  tyranny  ? 
The  subject,  moreover,  vitally  concerns  us  as  American 
scholars  and  Christians.  Papal  Europe,  even  Italy  herself, 
looks  to  this  country  vi^ith  eager  curiosity  and  hope.  Un- 
counted multitudes  constantly  find  an  asylum  here.  At  the 
present  time,  in  no  national  legislature  except  our  own 
would  the  members  of  the  Company  of  Jesus  find  upholders 
and  apologists.  With,  in  some  respects,  a  feeble,  negative, 
hesitating  Protestantism,  with  paralyzing  divisions  in  our 
own  ranks,  in  the  absence  of  comprehensive  plans,  and 
especially  of  a  gentle  and  Christian  spirit  in  our  religious 
discussions,  there  may  be  imminent  danger  to  our  insti- 
tutions. Exact  acquaintance  with  the  spirit  of  those  with 
whom  we  have  to  deal,  becomes  a  necessity  which  cannot 
well  be  exaggerated. 

Our  object,  in  the  first  place,  will  be  to  point  out  some 
of  the  causes  of  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  system 
in  Italy,  and  of  its  existence  through  so  many  ages.  It  is 
customary  to  think  of  that  hierarchy  as  founded  on  error 
exclusively,  on  childish  superstitions,  or  on  stupendous  false- 
hoods. The  judgments  often  passed  upon  it  are  indignant 
and  summary,  rather  than  discriminating  and  just, — the 
decisions  of  a  heated  zeal,  not  of  patient  and  dispassionate 
inquiry.  Now  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  system  could  have 
existed  so  long,  unless  it  had  some  sound  and  vigorous 
roots.  If  it  had  not  possessed  ingredients  of  truth  and  per- 
manence, it  would  have  been  torn  up  ages  ago,  utterly  pros- 
trated in  some  of  the  rude  shocks  it  has  encountered.     Its 


4  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

inherent  vigor  is  demonstrated  by  its  existence  for  fifteen 
hundred  years. 

The  Roman  Catholic  system  is  characterized  by  extra- 
ordinary contrasts  and  heterogeneous  elements.  In  one 
aspect  it  is  so  weak  that  it  seems  to  be  tottering  to  its  fall ; 
in  another,  its  strength  is  impregnable.  Now  it  should  seem 
that  it  must  yield  to  the  force  of  irrefragable  argument  and 
uncontradicted  fact ;  now  the  Protestant  advocate  feels  that 
he  himself  needs  weapons  of  the  keenest  temper  and  an 
arm  of  practised  ability.  No  one  who  has  looked  into  the 
Romish  system  will  despise  it.  No  one  who  has  encoun- 
tered the  Romish  dialectics  can  fail  to  be  impressed  with 
their  unmatched  subtlety. 

1.  The  long  duration  and  flourishing  state  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  system  in  Italy,  have  been  owing  in  a  degree  to  the 
physical  features  of  the  country  and  to  the  historical  asso- 
ciations. Italy  is  the  native  region  of  beauty.  The  water, 
the  earth,  the  air,  the  sunlight,  seem  to  have  an  inherent 
and  peculiar  charm.  A  distinguished  German  painter,  An- 
gelica Kaufmann,  said  that  she  could  not  paint  away  from 
Rome ;  there  was  an  artistic  quality  in  the  water.  Much 
of  the  delightful  scenery  is  admirably  fitted  to  give  eflfect 
to  the  gorgeous  ceremonial  of  the  Romish  Church.  The 
volcanic  regions  of  the  South,  with  their  constant  chemical 
changes,  afford  many  facilities  for  a  deceptive  and  imposing 
superstition. 

The  Papal  religion  is  one  that  cometh  by  observation,  by 
pomp  and  outward  circumstance.  It  needs  the  open  air. 
In  the  bleak  regions  of  the  North  it  is  robbed  of  half  its 
impressiveness.  Some  of  the  most  striking  portions  of  its 
ritual  cannot  be  displayed  within  the  walls  of  a  church.  Its 
crosses  must  be  consecrated  at  the  road-side.     Its  torches 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  O 

and  funeral  wailing  need  the  darkness  and  silence  of  the 
night  heavens. 

The  country,  too,  is  old  ;  it  is  full  of  hoary  reminiscences, 
reaching  beyond  the  time  of  the  Romans  ;  the  line  between 
fable  and  history  is  ill  defined.  The  country  is  most  per- 
fectly fitted  to  a  religion  which  clings  tenaciously  to  the 
past,  which  has  an  immutable  faith,  and  which,  instead  of 
relying  on  reason,  independent  judgment,  and  a  thorough 
private  study  of  the  Bible,  has  appealed  to  the  sentiment, 
to  the  fancy  and  the  outward  sense.  In  short,  it  is  a  religion 
which  has  seized  on  every  advantage  furnished  by  its  local- 
ity, adroitly  turning  the  laws  of  nature  to  its  own  benefit. 

2.  The  Romish  system  in  Italy  relies  in  a  measure  on 
its  antiquity.  It  has  existed  almost  from  the  Apostolic  ago. 
The  great  sects  of  Protestantism  seem  but  children  of  yes- 
terday. This  Church  says  her  masses  at  altars  built  or 
begun  before  the  time  of  Constantino.  It  has  placed  its 
great  symbol  in  the  Flavian  amphitheatre,  commenced  by 
Vespasian.  It  has  charge  of  those  solemn  subterranean 
chapels,  on  whose  dark  walls  is  carved  the  palm-branch  of 
the  martyrs.*  Her  litanies  were  chanted  by  Ambrose  and 
Augustine.  On  the  stones  of  her  Appian  Way,  as  they  now 
lie.  Apostles  and  Evangelists  walked. 

This  appeal  to  antiquity  derives  its  support  from  several 
sources.  It  has  its  foundation  in  the  nature  of  man,  in  one 
of  his  primary  and  strongest  tendencies.  We  naturally 
reverence  what  is  old.  We  cling  to  by-gone  days.  Amid 
the  shifting  scenes  of  the  present  and  the  uncertainties  of 

*  Both  the  crown  and  palm-branch  are  borrowed  from  Paganism ; 
but  they  received  additional  significance  to  the  Christian  from  the 
mention  of  them  in  the  book  of  Revelation.  —  Maitland's  Cliurch  in  the 
Catacombs,  p.  177. 

1* 


b  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

the  future,  we  fondly  disentomb  the  long-buried  past.  The 
feeling  is  not  confined  to  one  class  of  men.  The  illiterate 
and  the  learned  ahke  share  in  it.  Respect  for  the  aged  is 
the  marked  characteristic  of  the  whole  Oriental  world.  The 
removal  of  ancient  landmarks  has  been  guarded  by  heavy 
imprecations.  An  old  Bible,  the  heirloom  of  several  gen- 
erations, is  often  the  most  precious  family  treasure.  Of  this 
vital  and  universal  attribute  of  man,  the  Italian  Church 
avails  herself  to  the  utmost.  Mighty  empires  have  disap- 
peared ;  she  remains.  The  palaces  of  the  Caesars  have 
crumbled  long  ago ;  the  Apostolic  faith  still  lives  in  its  pri- 
meval bloom,  attracting  fresh  veneration,  greeted  with  a 
more  passionate  love,  as  ages  pass  away. 

Again,  she  has  adroitly  strengthened  this  sentiment,  by 
appealing  to  the  abuse  and  perversion  of  the  opposite.  In- 
novation is  sometimes  followed  by  bitter  fruits,  often  so  at 
first,  when  the  ultimate  effect  may  be  beneficial.  A  popular 
revolution  ends  in  despotism,  freedom  of  speech  in  licen- 
tiousness, freedom  of  thinking  in  heartless  infidelity.  Re- 
form is  only  the  cloak  under  which  some  discontented 
spirits  hide  their  ambitious  designs.  Democracy  in  Church 
and  State  is  only  another  name  for  anarchy.  Every  unsuc- 
cessful experiment  of  this  nature,  and  history  is  full  of  them, 
has  been  eagerly  seized  by  this  conservative  Church,  and 
turned  to  the  utmost  practical  account.  Not  a  little  of  her 
power  is  traceable  to  this  source.  She  has  selected  with  a 
sagacious  eye,  and  with  a  far-reaching  policy,  the  most  dis- 
astrows  events  in  Protestant  history,  the  most  melancholy 
facts  in  the  annals  of  perverted  reason.  How  much  better, 
she  has  proudly  asked,  is  the  boasted  country  of  Martin  Lu- 
ther, iron-bound  by  a  godless  rationalism,  than  what  men 
call  ignorant  and  superstitious  Italy  ?     Which  is  to  be  pre- 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  7 

ferred,  the  order-loving  and  tolerant  cantons  in  Catholic 
Switzerland,  with  a  few  peaceable,  Jesuit  schoolmasters,  or 
those  democratic  Protestant  districts  where  a  portion  of  the 
people  at  this  moment  cannot  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper 
but  at  the  peril  of  life  ? 

Another  source  of  this  influence  is  the  mellowing  effect 
of  time.  The  evil  that  men  do  is  buried  with  them  ;  the 
good  lives,  and  is  evermore  hallowed.  Errors  and  weak- 
nesses disappear  behind  the  dusky  veil  of  time  ;  good  and 
great  actions  stand  out  in  the  boldest  relief.  Critically  to 
analyze  the  character  of  the  men  whom  we  idolize,  would 
be  like  desecrating  the  tomb  of  a  father.  Hence  there  pre- 
vails an  idea  of  the  faultless  character  of  the  piety  of  the 
primitive  Church,  which  has  no  foundation  in  reality. 
Hence  the  Italian  Catholic  looks  only  on  the  great  illumi- 
nated points  in  the  history  of  his  Church,  passing  over  the 
valleys  covered  with  darkness,  the  marshes  stagnant  and 
redolent  with  all  corruption.  To  his  eye,  his  mother  Church 
in  her  long,  bright  history  seems  like  the  queen  of  Oriental 
cities,  sitting  on  the  shore  of  the  narrow  sea  in  paradisiacal 
beauty.  We  listen  to  some  of  the  Ambrosian  chants  or  the 
mediceval  hymns,  sung  in  a  temple  moss-grown  through 
seven  hundred  years  ;  the  words  have  an  indescribable  ten- 
derness, an  unearthly  solemnity,  as  they  float  among  the 
arches,  and  linger  around  the  marble  columns,  and  wander 
along  the  fretted  roof.  As  the  Stahat  Mater  Dolorosa  peals 
from  the  organ  and  from  voices  without  number,  we  seem 
to  hear  those  wailing  tones  and  catch  the  very  accents  of 
the  holy  women  who  came  to  see  that  great  sight ;  and  we 
forget  the  fatal  theological  error  which  lurks  in  those  awful 
sounds  or  in  those  words  which  embody  the  very  soul  of 
music.  No  other  church  has  such  treasures,  because  every 
other  is  comparatively  modern. 


8  THE    R05IAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

3.  The  Italian  Church  has  been  sustained  in  part  by  per- 
manent funds,  or  by  a  large,  fixed  capital.  We  do  not  refer 
so  much  to  the  religious  foundations,  monasteries,  nunneries, 
and  institutions  of  the  like  nature,  as  to  the  endowments  which 
support  the  parish  churches,  and  those  which  are  devoted 
to  the  direct  extension  of  Papacy.  The  former  stand  on  a 
more  precarious  tenure,  and  have  often  been  confiscated  or 
swept  away  in  a  revolution.  But  the  capital  which  has  main- 
tained the  parochial  clergy  has  been,  whatever  may  be  the 
case  in  the  future,  one  of  the  firmest  supports  of  the  system. 
In  Tuscany,  which  has  about  two  thirds  of  the  population 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  permanent  funds  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  regular  clergy  amount  to  several  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  Whatever  is  not  necessary  to  the  support 
of  the  priest  is  scrupulously  distributed  to  the  poor.*  This 
provision  places  the  clergy  in  a  position  independent  in  a 
measure  of  the  people,  while  it  does  not  diminish  their  in- 
fluence over  their  flocks.  What  an  efficient  instrument  for 
the  extension  of  the  Catholic  faith  has  been  the  Congre- 
gation de  Propaganda  Fide  at  Rome,  —  an  entire  street 
filled  with  its  imposing  edifices  !  Its  presses  in  num- 
ber, its  types  in  variety  of  languages,  its  pupils  gath- 
ered literally  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earthy  are 
a  most  striking  practical  proof  that  the  ubiquity  of  the 
Catholic  Church  is  not  a  mere  rhetorical  exaggeration.     It 

*  Florence,  e.  g.,  is  divided  into  parishes ;  there  is  generally  in  each 
parish  one  parish  church,  besides  other  churches  and  chapels  ;  to  each 
church  belong  benefices  more  or  less,  which  are  in  the  hands  of  patrons, 
rich  families,  and  others  ;  these  benefices  vary  in  value  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  or  two  hundred  dollars  ;  there  is  often  great  competition  for 
them  among  the  young  priests,  there  being  more  applicants  than 
places.  The  candidate  must  possess  a  living  worth  fifty  dollars  before 
he  can  make  application.  The  funds  of  a  church  are  in  the  hands  of 
a  sacristan. 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  i) 

is  sometimes  said,  that  nothing  but  ardent  love  to  Christ  and 
true  faith  in  His  word  will  sustain  a  foreign  missionary  for 
a  series  of  years  in  a  barbarous  and  pagan  country.  Yet 
the  pupils  of  the  Propaganda,  and  other  adherents  of  this 
religion,  have  exhibited  in  unnumbered  instances  and 
through  long  centuries  the  most  unshaken  zeal  and  the 
most  heroic  courage.  Either  they  have  been  animated  by 
the  true  Christian  spirit,  or  else  the  general  proposition  just 
referred  to  is  not  founded  in  fact.  No  isolated  efforts,  no 
merely  voluntary  contributions,  could  ever  accomplish  what 
that  celebrated  society  has  done.  The  order  of  Jesuits  is 
not  an  exception.  They  have  been,  as  is  well  known,  the 
founders  of  the  most  splendid  churches,  the  authors  or  pro- 
moters of  the  largest  permanent  foundations  belonging  to 
the  Catholic  hierarchy,  themselves  in  turn  supported  by 
these  foundations. 

St.  Peter's  church  itself  may  be  regarded  as  a  permanent 
fund,  whose  value  for  the  Papacy  arithmetic  can  hardly 
compute.  It  stands  as  the  noblest  representative  of  the 
unity  of  the  Catholic  faith,  in  unapproached  grandeur  by 
any  edifice  now  standing,  or  that  was  ever  built  by  Greek 
or  Roman,  and  which  Michael  Angelo  said  he  labored  upon 
for  the  love  of  God.  This  church,  by  its  history,  by  its  as- 
sociations with  the  earlier  edifice  which  stood  on  the  same 
spot,  by  its  faultless  proportions,  by  its  effects  every  year 
on  the  thousands  who  behold  it,  Protestants  and  Catholics, 
the  guides  of  taste  and  public  sentiment  in  their  respective 
countries,  becomes  a  support  to  the  system  which  words 
have  no  power  to  delineate,  is  an  investment  for  that  Church 
immeasurably  richer  than  the  marble  and  the  gold  which  so 
profusely  adorn  it.* 

*  The  ancient  basilica  had  existed  above  one  thousand  years.     The 


10  THE    ROBIAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY, 

May  it  not  be  a  question,  whether  we  have  not  seriously 
and  unnecessarily  weakened  the  influence  of  Protestantism 
by  encouraging  the  tendency  which  would  abandon  all  aid 
from  permanent  endowments,  which  would  teach  us  to  rely 
exclusively  on  the  spontaneous  liberality  of  the  Christian 
Church  ?  May  we  not  thereby  have  reason  to  apprehend 
evils  of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude  ?  Have  we  not,  on 
this  subject,  anticipated  a  period  which  is  yet  far  off,  rely- 
ing on  a  steady  philanthropy,  a  warm  and  uniform  Christian 
charity,  which  does  not  now  exist  ?  May  we  not  expose  an 
institution  of  great  importance,  or,  what  is  of  more  value, 
minds  of  fine  accomplishments  in  the  Christian  ministry, 
whose  training  has  been  very  costly,  to  the  caprice  of  a 
fickle  and  arbitrary  majority,  or  to  the  persecution  of  an 
unrelenting  minority,  where  all  independence  of  mind,  all 
honorable  feeling,  is  sacrificed  to  the  fashions  or  caprices 
of  an  hour,  where  the  only  alternative  is  cowardly  compli- 
ance with  what  conscience  and  reason  do  not  approve,  or 
starvation  ? 

By  fostering  this  prejudice,  this  ill-considered  tendency, 

first  stone  of  the  new  edifice  was  laid  in  1506  by  Julius  II.  The  plan 
was  traced  by  Bramante,  who  conceived  the  idea  of  the  dome  from 
Brunelleschi's  effbrt  at  Florence.  His  successor,  under  Leo  X.,  was 
Giulio  di  San  Gallo;  then  Raphael  with  five  assistants  ;  then  Antonio 
di  San  Gallo ;  then  Michael  Angelo,  who  erected  the  greater  part  of 
the  dome ;  he  was  succeeded  bj^  several  architects,  till  1654,  nearly  two 
centuries  from  the  time  at  which  the  idea  of  building  it  was  entertained, 
when  the  essential  parts  were  completed,  at  a  cost  of  47,000,000  of 
scudi,  about  £11,000,000.  "  Ths  gorgeous  dome,  suspended  in  mid- 
air, is  a  firmament ;  the  place  indeed  has  an  atmosphere  of  its  own, 
and  in  this  vastest  of  cathedrals  the  temperature  knows  no  change ; 
neither  the  enervating  scirocco,  nor  the  piercing  (ramo)itana,  nor  winter 
nor  summer,  intluences  the  soft  air  of  this  mighty  temple."  —  Cooke's 
Rome,  p.  40. 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  11 

we  have  manifestly  put  it  out  of  our  power  to  promote  cer- 
tain objects,  which  urgently  need  a  permanent  basis,  which 
cannot  from  the  nature  of  the  case  appeal  to  popular  sup- 
port, and  which  —  such  is  the  hostility  that  has  been  excited 
against  every  proposition  of  the  kind  —  cannot  receive  the 
aid  of  those  individuals,  who  might  otherwise  possess  that 
enlargement  of  mind  which  would  lead  them  to  become 
efficient  patrons.  Because  of  some  minor  evils,  or  of  some 
fancied  and  groundless  fears,  we  reject  that  which  the  wis- 
dom of  ages  has  approved,  and  which  has  been  essential  to 
build  up  both  the  true  and  the  false  systems  of  learning  and 
of  faith. 

The  two  ancient  universities  in  England  have  never  been 
what  they  ought  to  have  been  ;  neither  are  they  now  what 
they  should  be.  These  great  endowments  have  been  the 
sources  of  evils  both  to  Church  and  State.  Yet  no  one  could 
have  the  hardihood  to  assert  thai  the  evils  have  been  pre- 
ponderant, that  these  foundations  have  not  been  the  sources 
of  good,  great  and  inestimable.  The  warmest  friend  of 
spontaneous  charity,  and  of  an  unceasing  appeal  to  popular 
sympathy,  could  not  wish  to  see  them  demolished,  or  their 
princely  revenues  dissipated. 

4.  Italian  Catholicism  has  one  of  its  main  supports  in  the 
Fine  Arts. 

Three  questions  here  naturally  occur.  What  is  the  value 
of  these  objects  of  art  ?  What  connection  have  they  with 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  ?  What  will  be  their  proba- 
ble influence  hereafter .'' 

In  answer  to  the  first  question,  it  may  be  said  that  no 
value  can  be  placed  upon  the  principal  objects.  The  price 
is  beyond  estimation  or  conjecture.  Perhaps  no  article  of 
property,  movable  or  fixed,  can  be  compared  with  them  in 


12  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

worth.  They  could  not  be  exchanged  for  fine  gold.  Crown 
jewels,  the  regalia  of  kings,  the  revenue  of  diamond  mines, 
would  be  no  temptation  to  the  owners  of  these  objects. 
Gold  can  be  purchased  ;  it  is  a  vulgar  article  of  commerce  ; 
diamonds  can  be  dug  out  of  the  earth  ;  but  no  Promethean 
art  can  reillumine  the  soul  of  Raphael,  or  spread  before 
him  those  visions  of  superhuman  beauty.  The  wealth  of 
the  Indies  could  not  replace  the  Apollo,  were  it  destroyed. 
The  Sistine  Chapel  could  be  painted  only  by  him  who  hung 
the  dome  of  St.  Peter's. 

All  the  capitals  of  Italy,  and  most  of  the  principal  cities, 
contain  galleries  filled  with  objects  which  become  the  more 
precious  as  time  advances.  Years  of  intelligent  and  patient 
and  genial  study  cannot  exhaust  them,  can  only  help  one 
to  begin  to  understand  them,  any  more  than  the  genius  of 
Homer  or  of  Milton  can  be  comprehended  in  a  day  or  a 
year.  Two  or  three  of  these  Italian  masters  stand  on  the 
same  unapproachable  elevation  with  those  great  poets  that 
shine  with  a  never-setting  light.  These  galleries,  these  im- 
mortal works  are  not  locked  up,  are  not  secluded  from  the 
vulgar  gaze,  like  the  idols  of  the  East,  but  they  are  visited 
and  studied  by  all  Christendom,  Catholic  and  Protestant. 
They  are  the  goal  of  pilgrims  as  fervent  as  ever  wound 
their  way  to  the  shrine  of  a  prophet.  They  are  mould- 
ing the  taste,  shaping  the  sentiments,  and  determining  the 
character  of  some  of  the  leading  minds  of  the  age,  —  of  all 
who  have  any  power  to  appreciate  beauty  in  its  deathless 
forms. 

The  second  inquiry  is.  How  are  these  objects  of  art  con- 
nected with  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  .''  Rather  we  may 
ask.  Wherein  are  they  not  interfused  and  incorporated, 
made  to  breathe  an  influence  which  is  ever  insinuating  and 


THE   ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  13 

all  but  universal  ?  The  religion  is  addressed,  in  a  pre- 
eminent degree,  especially  in  its  practical  workings,  to  the 
imagination,  the  fancy,  the  feelings,  the  outward  sense.  It 
seeks  to  take  the  reason  captive  by  filling  the  eye  with 
tears,  by  enchanting  the  ear,  and  by  stirring  all  the  sensi- 
bilities of  our  nature.  Admiration  is  the  mother  of  devo- 
tion ;  God,  through  the  medium  of  the  Virgin,  is  influenced 
by  tears  and  passionate  outcries  and  wailing  lamentations. 
To  the  building  up  of  this  stupendous  system,  kings,  patri- 
archs, popes,  councils,  theologians,  monks,  missionaries, 
have  not  been  the  sole,  perhaps  not  the  principal,  contribu- 
tors. The  gods  of  Papal  Rome  were  made  by  the  chisel 
and  the  pencil  of  more  cunning  workmen  than  these. 
Craftsmen  more  honored  in  life  than  any  of  the  Gregories 
or  Leos,  and  since  their  death  canonized  with  a  profounder 
homage,  lent  all  the  charms  of  their  inimitable  genius  to 
support  and  adorn  what  they  could  not  enough  honor.  One 
of  them  sleeps  in  the  Pantheon,  whom,  when  he  was  alive, 
men  regarded  with  religious  veneration,  as  if  God  had  re- 
vealed Himself  through  Him,  as  he  did  in  former  days  by 
the  prophets.  The  tomb  of  another  is  in  the  Westminster 
Abbey  of  Florence,  by  the  side  of  those  of  Machiavelli, 
Galileo,  and  Dante. 

The  position  of  the  Holy  Virgin  in  the  Romish  system  is 
well  known.  It  has  been  often  observed  that  the  degree  of 
reverence  paid  to  the  sacred  persons  is  in  the  following 
order  :  the  Virgin,  her  Divine  Son,  God  the  Father.  Four- 
teen festivals  in  the  calendar  are  dedicated  especially  to  her 
honor.  Churches  innumerable  bear  her  name.  Altars  the 
most  sacred  and  cherished  are  fragant  with  incense  to  her 
coequal  glory.  Everywhere  and  in  all  possible  forms  she 
is  adored.     Yet  the  most  worthy  offering  ever  presented  to 

VOL.  II.  2 


14  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

her  was  the  genius  of  Raphael.  She  was  the  ideal  of  all 
heavenly  beauty  for  ever  floating  before  him,  the  subject  of 
his  dreams  by  night,  his  toils  by  day.  Nowhere  does  his 
genius  revel  so  as  upon  her  form.  Never  have  all  the 
types  and  symbols  and  conceptions  of  beauty  been  so  ethe- 
real ized  as  in  the  touch  of  his  pencil  on  this  entrancing 
theme.  The  gems  of  the  richest  collections  in  Europe  are 
Raphael's  Madonnas. 

The  same  remarks  apply  substantially  to  most  of  the 
other  masters  of  painting.  The  great  attraction  at  Parma 
is  Correggio's  picture,  the  most  remarkable  figures  in  which 
are  the  Madonna  and  child,  Mary  Magdalene,  and  Jerome. 
"  The  eminently  grand  picture  "  of  the  academy  of  Venice 
is  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  by  Titian.  A  Madonna, 
unlike  any  other,  sweet  and  beautiful  exceedingly,  is  that 
by  Andrea  del  Sarto  in  the  Pitti  palace  at  Florence.  In 
the  academy  at  Bologna,  the  visitor  is  instantly  attracted  to 
the  Madonna  della  Pieta.  of  Guido  ;  and  so  in  many  other 
places.  The  artists  have  lavished  the  resources  of  the 
highest  genius  in  making  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  visi- 
ble, in  embodying  it  in  breathing  forms,  in  commending  its 
most  objectionable  features,  through  the  fascinations  of  an 
inimitable  coloring,  to  all  men  of  accomplished  minds.  To 
reject  a  doctrine  presented  in  this  form  seems  to  be  a  re- 
bellion against  the  canons  of  taste,  an  extinguishing  of  the 
lights  of  learning  and  civilization.  Not  to  palliate  or  over- 
look an  anti-Scriptural  dogma,  or  a  fatal  eiTor,  when  it  is 
surrounded  with  all  the  illusions  of  genius,  is  a  barbarism 
which  multitudes  of  Protestants  would  shrink  from  being 
guilty  of.  Those  who  would  on  no  account  kiss  a  relic  or 
worship  the  host,  will,  yielding  up  their  better  judgment, 
bestow  their  warmest  admiration  upon  the  still  more  objee- 


THE    ROBIAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  15 

tionable  forms  of  pictured  or  sculptured  beauty.  An  idola- 
trous attachment  to  some  of  the  Christian  fathers  is  one  of 
the  sins  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  But  this  is  a  pec- 
cadillo, or  in  a  great  measure  atoned  for,  if  the  artist  has 
added  his  imperishable  sanction.  The  worship  of  images 
has  been  the  reproach  of  the  Papal  Church  for  ages ;  yet, 
in  the  view  of  many  Protestants  even,  it  seems  a  venial 
offence,  as  they  gaze  on  the  fresco  and  mosaic,  or  the  mar- 
ble standing  before  them,  wrought  with  cunning  skill  and 
almost  warm  with  life.  It  is  a  total  perversion  of  the  de- 
sign of  a  church  to  crowd  it  with  specimens  of  art  or  an- 
tiquity, to  make  it,  as  it  often  is  in  Europe,  a  museum  or  a 
picture  galleiy.  It  is  said  that  there  are  nearly  fourteen 
thousand  granite  columns  in  Rome,  relics  of  the  times  of 
the  empire,  and  more  than  six  thousand  antique  columns  of 
marble,  many  of  which  are  in  the  churches,  and  thus  be- 
come to  multitudes  objects  of  intenser  interest  than  the  wor- 
ship- of  God,  or  the  doctrines  of  Christ.* 

The  remaining  question  is.  What  will  be  the  position  and 
influence  of  the  Fine  Arts  hereafter  ?  How  far  will  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  rest  on  them  as  among  its  firmest 
supports  ? 

That  they  will  supply  one  of  the  moulding  influences  of 
society,  even  in  its  best  and  most  Christian  state,  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  Some  of  the  productions  of  the  great  mas- 
ters, should  they  be  spared  in  the  accidents  of  time,  can 
never  cease  to  be  the  teachers  of  the  world,  because  they 
are  addressed  to  a  primary  and  imperishable  part  of  our 
nature,  because  they  furnish  correct  and  most  awakening 

*  Burton's  Kome,  11.  p.  115. 


16  THE    KOMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

conceptions  of  truth,  and  excite  the  rehgious  feelings  in  a 
degree  compared  with  which  spoken  words  have  little 
power.  For  example,  the  pictures  of  the  Crucifixion  and 
the  Last  Judgment  by  Rubens,  and  of  the  Transfiguration 
by  Raphael,  are  coincident  with  Scriptural  truth,  and  will 
haunt  the  memoiy,  and  awaken  awful  fear,  or  profound  ado- 
ration, or  tender  love,  days  and  weeks  after  they  are  with- 
drawn from  the  sight.  These  works  are  an  index  of  what 
the  human  soul  is  capable  of  effecting,  and  their  direct  ten- 
dency is  to  fill  the  mind  with  exalted  views  of  the  glory  of 
Him  who  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  genius.  They 
present  before  him  who  gazes  upon  them  an  ideal  of  excel- 
lence in  the  highest  degree  exciting  and  influential,  what- 
ever be  the  nature  of  his  pursuits.  In  possessing  suscepti- 
bilities that  can  derive  satisfaction  from  such  sources,  he  is 
inwardly  exalted.  By  the  aid  of  this  almost  spiritual  pen- 
cilling, he  can  grasp  some  of  those  conceptions  which  would 
be  otherwise  dim  and  shadowy.  In  this  world  we  do  not 
need  intellect  nor  truth,  but  that  power  that  will  excite  the 
soul,  and  fasten  it  on  the  truth  and  beauty  with  which  its 
own  depths  and  all  objective  nature  are  filled. 

Now  it  is  in  vain  to  say  that  this  is  mere  fancy,  a  mo- 
mentary impression  which  produces  no  practical  effect  on  the 
heart  and  life.  A  man  may  be  educated  for  heaven  by  the 
reflex  influence  of  the  thoughts  and  aspirations  of  his  own 
soul,  as  truly  as  by  a  precept  or  an  objective  motive.  The 
more  pure  and  elevated  one's  feelings  are  on  any  subject, 
the  more  laden  his  mind  is  with  all  the  symbols  of  grace 
and  beauty,  the  more  able  he  will  be  to  resist  the  allure- 
ments to  evil  by  which  he  is  beset. 

No  true  Protestant  would,  indeed,  undertake  to  apologize 
for  the  creations  of  taste  and  art  in  Italy,  so  far  as  they  mis- 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  17 

interpret  or  confound  Scriptural  truth,  or  inculcate  theo- 
logical error,  or  excite  unworthy  passions  and  criminal 
desires.  In  the  reformed  and  better  age  which  we  believe 
is  coming,  all  such  productions  will  be  swept  away,  or  esti- 
mated as  we  now  estimate  the  fables  of  Greek  mythology. 
In  that  better  period,  too,  these  pursuits  will  not  usurp  a 
place  which  does  not  belong  to  them,  but  will  assume  their 
appropriate  and  subordinate  position.  But  till  that  purer 
state  of  society  arrives,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Italy 
will  continue  to  rest  on  the  Fine  Arts  as  one  of  its  surest 
foundations.  The  growth  of  ages,  what  is  so  incorporated 
into  the  habits  and  feelings,  associated  with  the  most  affect- 
ing periods  of  human  life,  the  most  touching  offices  of  the 
Church,  and  the  holiest  recollections  of  history,  will  not  be 
easily  relinquished. 

Besides,  thei'e  are  powerful  influences  in  the  Protestant 
world,  which  are  coincident  and  corroborating.  The  ritual 
and  the  practices  of  the  Lutheran  Communion  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe  are  but  very  partially  reformed.  Many  of 
their  church  edifices  can  with  difficulty  be  distinguished 
from  the  Papal.  Much  of  the  finest  poetry  of  the  present 
day,  the  best  of  the  romances,  and  the  most  splendid  essay- 
writing,  lend  all  their  charms  and  power  in  strengthening 
the  very  tendency  on  which  the  Papal  system  reposes. 
The  claims  of  theological  truth  and  the  great  interests  of 
mankind  are  made  to  yield  to  the  charms  of  diction,  to 
poetic  fancy,  or  to  a  false  liberality.  The  worshippers  of 
the  fine  arts  in  most  of  the  Protestant  countries  of  Europe 
were  never  more  numerous  or  enthusiastic  than  they  are  at 
this  moment,  never  more  willing  to  sacrifice  truth  to  out- 
ward beauty,  never  more  willing  to  promote  by  their  ex- 
ample what  in  profession  they  would  disown.  The  fasci- 
2* 


18  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

nations  of  genius  are  in  some  instances  an  apology  for  what 
is  no  more  nor  less  than  undisguised  sensualism.  The 
pious  and  Protestant  king  of  Prussia  has  now  in  his  national 
collection  in  Berlin  two  or  three  productions  exquisite  in  art, 
but  which  would  not  be  openly  exposed  in  the  States  of  the 
Church  in  Italy. 

5.  The  system  has  been  sustained  by  means  of  the  truth 
which  it  includes  in  its  creeds  and  formularies.  It  is  owing 
to  the  same  reason  in  part  that  the  Mohammedan  faith  has 
been  able  to  maintain  an  independent  existence  so  long. 
Truth  cannot  be  wholly  buried  up.  It  has  a  certain  innate 
and  recuperative  energy.  It  may  be  darkened  and  per- 
verted ;  it  may  be  mixed  with  sophisms,  or  ingeniously  ex- 
plained away,  or  caricatured  ;  during  long  ages  it  may  seem 
to  have  left  the  world  to  a  dead  formalism  or  to  a  malignant 
fanaticism  ;  yet  it  secretly  operates  in  some  hearts.  Like 
those  influences  which  are  at  work  in  the  hard,  wintry 
ground,  it  is  silently  preparing  its  forces,  and  will  in  due 
time  reveal  some  little  spots  of  cheerful  verdure. 

The  Decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  are  the  authorized 
standard  of  the  Catholic  Church.  No  fault  can  be  found 
with  a  considerable  portion  of  these  articles,  and  of  the  ex- 
planations which  are  subjoined.  All  Protestant  churches 
would  fully  accord  with  important  parts  of  the  Confession, 
Indeed,  the  creeds  of  some  of  the  Protestant  churches  are 
in  a  large  measure  only  a  translation  from  the  Romish. 
Unwise  explanations,  acute  and  groundless  distinctions,  the 
insertion  of  positive  error,  the  multiplication  of  unauthorized 
observances,  or  even  the  immoral  lives  of  not  a  few  who 
administer  the  system,  do  not  wholly  change  its  nature,  can- 
not entirely  exclude  its  redeeming  influence.  Not  seldom, 
some  individuals,  whose  hearts  have  been  touched  by  di- 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  19 

vine  grace,  have  been  able  to  maintain  their  ground  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  though  they  have  boldly  preached  some 
saving  truths,  and  neglected  or  denounced  the  pernicious 
errors  by  which  they  were  surrounded. 

Such  appear  to  be  some  of  the  principal  reasons  for  the 
protracted  existence  and  comparatively  flourishing  state  of 
the  Italian  Church.  Her  errors  in  doctrine,  and  her  anti- 
Christian  practices  find,  indeed,  a  vigorous  nourishment  in 
the  tendencies  of  depraved  human  nature.  But  unmixed 
error  and  superstition,  or  unadulterated  depravity,  cannot 
be  the  sole  cause  of  the  long  duration  of  this  Church.  Her 
strength  lies  in  the  artful  commingling  of  good  and  evil  ele- 
ments, in  having  at  her  command  resources  for  the  most 
adroit  management,  in  being  able  to  appeal  to  some  of  the 
most  innocent,  as  well  as  powerful,  tendencies  of  our  na- 
ture, in  taking  advantage  of  varying  events  in  Providence 
and  of  the  changing  aspects  of  society,  and  in  being  able 
to  point  to  such  men  as  Bernard  and  Borromeo,  Pascal  and 
Fenelon  and  the  present  Bishop  of  Rome,  as  undoubted 
proof  of  the  excellent  fruits  which  the  system  is  fitted  to 
produce. 

We  shall  now  proceed,  in  the  second  place,  to  adduce 
some  of  the  causes  of  the  weakness  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
system,  especially,  though  by  no  means  exclusively,  as  it 
exists  in  Italy  ;  and  shall  enumerate  some  of  the  facts  which 
prove  that  this  system  is  in  conflict  with  the  Bible,  with 
sound  reason,  and  with  the  advancement  of  society,  and 
which  assure  us  of  its  reformation  or  its  ultimate  overthrow. 

One  preliminary  remark  is  important.  The  Italian  Cath- 
olic does  not  see  with  our  eves.     He  does  not  examine  his 


20  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION   IN    ITALY. 

system  through  a  Protestant  medium.  His  principles  of  in- 
quiry are  not  drawn  from  the  inductive  philosophy.  The 
priest,  educated  under  a  different  system  of  dialectics,  is  not 
familiar  with  that  large,  round-about,  common  sense  of 
which  Locke  writes,  and  which  we  are  accustomed  to  apply 
to  a  religious  system.  We  are  sometimes  amazed  that  a 
Roman  Catholic  does  not  look  at  a  church  question  as  we 
are  taught  to  examine  it.  In  his  religious  services,  we  may 
continually  witness  scenes  so  trivial  and  contemptible,  that 
we  are  astonished  at  the  gravity  of  the  principal  perform- 
ers, and  at  the  gullibility  of  the  awe-stricken  crowd.  But 
the  Romish  priest  is  trained  to  substitute  ingenuity  for  argu- 
gument,  plausible  suppositions  for  facts,  subtle  discrimina- 
tion for  solid  reasoning.  There  is  indeed  little  common 
ground  between  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  theologian. 
The  mind  of  the  latter  has  been  trained  for  ages  in  a  man- 
ner so  unlike  that  of  an  intelligent  Protestant,  that  it  seems 
to  be  a  hopeless  task  to  try  to  overthrow  the  Catholic  hie- 
rarchy by  argument.  So  it  is  with  the  mass  of  the  devotees. 
They  seem  to  have  lost  or  never  possessed  the  power  to 
perceive  what  is  ludicrous  or  utterly  trivial.  But  while  we 
pity  their  credulity,  they  are  grieved  at  our  infidelity,  or 
shocked  at  our  irreverence,  and  the  frigid  unconcern  which 
we  exhibit  in  witnessing  the  celebration  of  the  most  awful 
mystei'ies  of  their  faith. 

These  considerations  should  teach  us  to  judge  of  the 
Romish  practices  with  all  Christian  candor  and  charity ; 
they  may  also  lead  us  to  moderate  our  expectations  of  the 
very  speedy  overthrow  of  the  system.  It  has  such  a  tena- 
cious hold  of  the  senses  and  the  imagination,  the  hopes  and 
the  fears  of  the  people,  that  the  process  of  extinguishing  it, 
or  of  thoroughly  reforming  it,  may  be  difficult  and  pro- 
tracted. 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  21 

1.  The  Roman  Catholic  system  is  not  favorable  to  the 
industry  and  physical  prosperity  of  a  state.  No  compari- 
son is  more  fair,  none  can  be  less  easily  set  aside,  than  that 
which  is  often  instituted  between  the  principal  Protestant 
and  Catholic  countries  of  Europe.  The  argument  is  open, 
and  read  of  all  men  ;  it  cannot  be  met,  nor  its  force  evaded. 
Protestantism  is  favorable  to  the  temporal  prosperity  of  na- 
tions ;  Roman  Catholicism  is  not,  or  in  proportion  as  it  is,  it 
departs  from  its  spirit  and  usages. 

The  reasons  of  this  contrast  are  perfectly  obvious.  The 
general  influence  of  the  Papacy  in  repressing  freedom  of 
thought,  independence  of  opinion,  the  sense  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility, the  motives  to  individual  exertion,  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  territory  of  morals  and  religion  ;  it  has  extend- 
ed over  the  entire  physical  life,  all  the  departments  of  in- 
dustry and  action.  If  the  members  of  a  community  are 
not  allowed  to  think  on  questions  affecting  their  spiritual  in- 
terests, they  will  be  apt  to  be  sluggish  and  thriftless  in  all 
which  pertains  to  their  temporal  well-being. 

Again,  through  its  innumerable  festivals  and  holiday 
observances,  Romanism  essentially  interferes  with  habits  of 
industry  and  the  regular  business  of  life.  The  command, 
"  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor,"  is  interpreted  to  mean,  "  Three 
or  four  days  shalt  thou  labor ;  all  the  rest  shall  be  fasts  or 
holidays,"  The  number  of  canonized  saints  on  its  calen- 
dar is  eleven  hundred  and  twenty-eight,*  the  annual  festi- 
vals of  multitudes  of  whom  are  celebrated  by  the  Church 
universal,  or  by  large  portions  of  it.  The  checks  upon  in- 
dustry, and  the  habits  of  idleness  arising  from  this  source, 

*  Catalogue  Alphahetique  des  Saints  et  Saintes,  avec  la  Date  de  leiir 
Mori  et  de  leurs  Fttes,  Annuaire  Historique,  Paris,  1847. 


22  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

where  the  fasts  and  festivals  are  observed  with  any  degree 
of  strictness,  are  innumerable. 

Besides,  the  number  of  ecclesiastics,  who  pursue  no  use- 
ful occupation,  and  who  are  not  needed  for  any  spiritual 
purpose,  is  enormously  great.  The  city  of  Rome,  with  a 
population  of  175,000,  has  more  than  three  hundred  church- 
es and  one  ecclesiastic  to  every  thirty  of  its  population.* 
The  kingdom  of  Naples,  not  including  Sicily,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  about  six  millions,  has  nearly  one  hundred  thou- 
sand priests  and  persons  belonging  to  the  religious  orders. 
The  barren  island  of  Sardinia  is  furnished  with  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  convents. 

Idleness,  rather  than  positive  immorality,  is  the  charge 
which  is  most  commonly  laid  at  the  door  of  the  priesthood 
in  the  city  of  Rome.  They  are  promenading  the  streets, 
lounging  at  the  museums  and  picture  galleries,  and  are  not 
occupied  in  their  appropriate  calling.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  the  mother  of  idleness  as  well  as  of  ignorance. 
The  great  mass  of  the  population  in  many  parts  of  Italy 
are  indescribably  poor  ;  the  property  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
bankers  and  of  a  few  other  rich  men.  The  vast  Campagna 
near  Rome,  the  immense  Pontine  marshes  lining  the  Ap- 
pian  Way  towards  Naples,  impregnated  with  disease  and 
death,  would  become  within  two  years,  in  the  hands  of  an 
Englishman  or  New-Englander,  the  garden  of  the  world. t 

*  The  city  of  Rome,  according  to  the  official  census,  reported  in  the 
Augsburg  AUgem. Zeit.,  1847,  had  54  parishes,  27,532  families,  39  bisliops, 
1,514  priests,  2,471  monks,  1,754  nuns,  521  seminaries,  and  a  popuhition 
of  175,883.     Naples,  with  a  population  of  360,000,  has  300  churches. 

t  In  1797,  when  the  Papal  government  was  overturned  by  the 
French,  the  Board  of  Public  Subsistence  exhibited  a  deficit  of  3,293,000 
crowns,  incurred  in  retailing  bread  to  the  people. 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  23 

So  far  as  industry  and  the  true  principles  of  political  econ- 
omy take  root  in  a  Roman  Catholic  country,  it  is  by  a  de- 
parture, and  only  by  a  departure,  from  the  spirit  of  the 
system.* 

2.  The  Catholic  system  is  preeminently  a  materializing 
system.  It  measures  spiritual  truth,  to  a  great  extent,  ac- 
cording to  a  gross  and  earthly  standard.  It  clothes  pure 
and  elevated  ideas  in  a  garb  foreign  to  their  nature,  or  con- 
nects with  them  mean  and  repulsive  associations.  Instead 
of  raising  mortals  to  the  skies,  it  robs  angels  of  their  spirit- 
ual glory.  The  sublime  and  dreadful  mysteries  of  the  in- 
visible world,  into  which  the  seraphim  would  fear  to  intrude, 
are  opened  to  the  vulgar  gaze,  and  are  made  so  definite  and 
mensurable  and  earthlike,  as  to  lose  their  legitimate  influ- 
ence and  become  nearly  transformed  into  material  sub- 
stances. 

Proofs  and  illustrations  of  these  remarks  might  be  ac- 
cumulated  almost   without  end.     After   the    communicant 

*  We  learned  the  following  facts  at  Naples,  in  1847,  on  the  best 
authority.  The  government  at  that  time  had  a  complete  monopoly  of 
tobacco,  salt,  playing-cards,  and  snow.  The  last  article  is  considered 
indispensable.  Salt  was  $  2.50  a  bushel.  The  land-tax  was  sometimes 
enormously  high,  amounting  to  one  fourth  of  a  man's  income.  But  it 
was  very  unequal,  as  a  small  bribe  would  induce  the  assessors  to  lay  a 
light  tax  on  one,  while  that  laid  upon  another  who  happened  to  be  ab- 
sent, or  who  would  not  pay  the  bribe,  was  ruinous.  The  country  en- 
joys one  of  the  finest  climates  and  has  a  most  fertile  soil,  yet  there  is 
little  general  prosperity  and  little  foreign  commerce.  The  state  of 
morals  in  the  city  is  deplorably  low.  Pimps  abound  in  the  streets,  who 
solicit  passengers  and  strangers  to  criminal  indulgence.  According  to 
the  testimony  of  Dr.  Cox,  an  English  physician,  one  fourth  of  the  dis- 
eases of  males  at  Naples  are  either  dependent  on  or  complicated  with 
diseases  caused  by  dissipation.  Contentions  and  quarrels  frequently 
occur  among  different  priests  and  parishes. 


24  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

makes  the  sign  of  the  cross  at  the  sacrament,  he  says, 
"  May  the  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  preserve  my  soul 
to  eternal  life,"  *  —  his  body  really,  truly,  and  substantially. 
When  the  last  notes  of  the  Sanctus  have  died  upon  the  ear, 
a  small  bell  tinkles,  and  our  Lord  is  physically  present  on 
the  altar,  under  the  emblems,  —  his  literal  body  and  blood 
are  partaken  of,  —  a  physical,  materializing  interpretation 
of  Scripture,  which  is  only  a  specimen  of  a  system  which 
is  applied  to  a  large  part  of  the  entire  volume. 

Some  of  the  numerous  rules  laid  down  in  the  Roman 
Missal  for  the  taking  of  the  sacrament,  are  disgustingly  mi- 
nute, surrounding  a  spiritual  truth  with  the  most  familiar 
and  degrading  images.  Some  of  the  articles  are  not  fit  for 
quotation.  "If  any  one  does  not  fast  after  midnight,"  the 
rubric  prescribes,  "  even  after  the  taking  of  water  only,  or 
of  any  other  drink  or  food,  even  in  the  shape  of  medicine, 
and  in  whatsoever  minute  quantity,  he  cannot  communicate 
or  celebrate.  If  the  residue  of  the  food  remaining  in  the 
mouth  be  swallowed,  the  residuary  particles  do  not  prevent 
communion,  since  they  are  not  swallowed  after  the  manner 
of  food.  The  same  is  to  be  said,  if,  in  washing  the  face,  a 
drop  of  water  should  be  swallowed,  contrary  to  the  inten- 
tion." 

So  the  doctrines  of  repentance  and  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  are  miserably  degraded  by  the  penances  and  indul- 
gences of  the  Romish  system,  even  if  we  admit  the  most 
plausible  explanations  of  the  Catholic  theologians.  The 
intercourse  of  the  soul  of  man  with  its  Maker,  in  its  most 
solemn  moments,  in  the  deciding  crises  of  its  destiny,  is 
tampered  with  by  the  arts  of  a  mercenary  traffic.    Temporal 

*  Bishop  England's  Explanation  of  the  Construction,  etc.  of  a 
Church,  Rome,  1845,  p.  144. 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  25 

rewards   and    punishments,    if    not   eternal,   are    made   a 
marketable  commodity. 

Over  the  gateway  of  many  churches  in  Rome  is  to  be 
seen  posted  up  the  words :  "  Indulgentia  plenaria,  perpetua 
et  quotidiana,  pro  vivis  et  defunctis."  Sometimes  the  sen- 
tence is  on  a  marble  slab  in  the  church  ;  sometimes  it  is  a 
written,  framed  tablet  of  parchment,  hanging  upon  a  column  ; 
sometimes  it  is  in  gilt  letters  on  a  metal  plate  ;  at  others, 
on  a  loose  printed  paper.  On  the  inner  wall  of  the  church 
of  St.  Sebastian,  which  stands  without  the  walls  on  the 
Appian  Way,  is  a  marble  inscription  which  declares  that 
"  whosoever  shall  have  entered  it  [i.  e.  the  catacomb]  shall 
obtain  plenary  remission  of  all  his  sins,  through  the  merits 
of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  thousand  holy  mar- 
tyrs, and  of  forty-six  high  pontiffs,  likewise  martyrs,"  who 
were  interred  there.  "So  many  are  the  indulgences  of  the 
Lateran  church,"  it  is  declared,  "that  they  cannot  in  any 
wise  be  numbei'ed  but  by  God  alone."  * 

*  The  following  are  taken  from  various  churches  in  Rome.  In  St. 
Luigi  dei  Francesci,  "  Whoever  prays  for  the  king  of  France  has  ten 
days  of  indulgence,"  by  Pope  Innocent  IV.  In  St.  Pietro  in  Carcere, 
"  S-  Sylvester  granted  every  day  to  those  who  visited  it  1,200  years  of 
indulgence,  doubled  on  Sundays  and  commanded  festivals,  and  besides, 
every  day  the  remission  of  a  third  part  of  sins."  In  St.  Cosmo  and 
Damian,  "  Gregory  I.  granted  to  all  and  each  one  visiting  this  church 
of  St.  Cosmo  and  Damian  1,000  years  of  indulgence,  and  on  the  day  of 
the  station  of  the  same  church,  the  same  Gregory  granted  10,000  years 
of  indulgence.''  On  a  marble  slab  near  the  door  of  the  church  of  St. 
Saviour  di  Thermis  is  the  following :  "  Indulgences  conceded  in  per- 
petuity by  high  pontiffs  in  this  church.  Every  day  of  the  year  there 
are  1,230  years  of  indulgence  ;  for  all  Lent  there  is  plenary  indul- 
gence ;  for  the  pilgrims  there  is  every  day  plenary  indulgence."  —  Ro- 
manism as  it  exists  in  Rome,  by  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Percy,  pp.  48  -  53. 
VOL.  II,  3 


26  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

The  great  facts  of  our  futui'e,  spiritual  existence,  so  sim- 
ple and  sublime,  so  incapable  of  being  symbolized  by  the 
gross -objects  of  sense,  are  robbed,  in  the  sermons  of  the 
Italian  preachers,  of  their  true  efficiency,  and  made  to  as- 
sume the  most  grotesque,  or  repulsive,  material  forms. 
The  Paradise  and  Gehenna  of  the  Moslems,  the  Elysium 
and  the  Hades  of  Virgil,  might  find  exact  counterparts  in 
the  discourses  of  many  professed  Christian  preachers. 

Three  or  four  years  ago  an  eloquent  Italian  friar  preached 
in  Rome.  His  subject  was  the  Last  Judgment.  And  he 
handled  it  in  a  manner  to  terrify  the  poor  audience  to  the 
utmost  degree,  using  every  art  his  imagination  could  sug- 
gest. Sometimes  he  threw  a  veil  over  the  Madonna's  face, 
or  turned  her  round,  for  she  moved  on  a  pivot,  and  exhib- 
ited her  back  to  his  audience  in  token  of  alienation  of  feel- 
ing ;  sometimes  he  shook  her  garments,  which  were  black, 
allusive  to  the  train  of  thought  in  which  he  was  indulging ; 
he  then  produced  an  iron  chain  and  scourged  himself  vio- 
lently with  it,  the  harsh  clank  of  which  against  the  panels 
of  the  pulpit,  united  with  the  heavy  sounds  of  the  ropes 
with  which  some  of  his  hearers  were  lacerating  themselves, 
together  with  the  sobs  and  shrieks  of  the  females,  were  ter- 
rifying to  the  firmest  nerves. 

On  the  following  evening,  his  subject  was  Hell.  It  might 
have  been  Omniscience  itself  that  was  speaking,  so  intimate 
was  the  knowledge  displayed  of  the  secrets  of  that  un- 
known world.  Towards  the  end  of  the  discourse,  he  called 
for  a  lighted  pitch  torch,  which  was  in  waiting,  and,  deliber- 
ately rolling  up  his  sleeve,  held  his  wrist  immediately  over 
the  flame.  Such  was  the  torment,  he  said,  to  which  every 
member  of  the  sinner's  body  would  be  subjected  through 
ail  eternity.     There  was  no  flinching  on  the  part  of  the 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  27 

friar,  so  strongly  were  his  nerves  strung ;  nor  was  there 
any  deception.* 

Now  this  method  of  exhibiting  truth  was  extraordinary 
only  in  degree.  It  habitually  appeals  to  the  inferior  part  of 
our  nature.  It  seeks  to  reduce  every  proposition  to  sensible 
proof.  It  likes  to  trust  in  nothing  which  cannot  be  seen 
and  weighed  and  measured.  In  short,  its  tendency  is  to 
supersede  the  use  of  the  reason  by  reducing  the  highest  and 
most  Spiritual  truths  to  the  level  of  the  outward  sense. 

3.  One  of  the  most  striking  forms  under  which  Italian 
Catholicism  appears  is  that  of  a  baptized  Paganism.  It  is 
an  extraordinary  mixture  of  Roman  polytheism  and  Chris- 
tianity. The  stranger  at  Rome  can  at  times  with  difficulty 
recollect  whether  he  is  walking  in  the  streets  of  Augustus's 
Rome  or  in  those  of  Pius  the  Ninth.  He  turns  a  corner 
and  passes  out  of  Jesus  Street  and  enters  Minerva  Street. 
He  gazes  upon  Vespasian's  amphitheatre,  and  then  listens  to 
a  friar  preaching  in  the  centre  of  it.  Looking  at  the  inscrip- 
tions on  the  churches,  he  reads,  "  Santa  Maria  sopra  Mi- 
nerva, Santa  Maria  in  Lucina,  Santo  Apollinare,  Santo 
Martino."  The  saints  Cosmo  and  Damiano  are  worshipped 
where  there  was  a  temple  of  Romulus  and  Remus.  A  noble 
building,  at  this  moment  nearly  perfect,  dedicated  to  Anto- 
ninus and  his  wife  Faustina,  is  now  the  church  of  St.  Lo- 
renzo. One  descends  out  of  a  church  into  the  Mammertine 
prison  where  Catiline's  fellow-conspirators  were  confined. 
The  ancient  Romans  had  a  great  number  of  local  gods,  who 
presided  over  particular  places  or  occupations.  St.  Martin 
is  now  the  protector  of  the  millers.  St.  Luke  is  the  patron 
of  sculptors,  painters,  and  architects.  A  likeness  of  the 
Madonna,  painted  by  him,  says  the  Roman  almanac,  ex- 


Ilome  Pagan  and  Papal,  1846,  yt.  244. 


28  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

ists  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore.  St.  Eras- 
mus is  the  advocate  against  spasmodic  sufferings,  St.  Rocco 
against  plagues,  St.  Bonosa  against  the  small-pox,  and  St. 
Martha  against  epidemic  diseases.*  People  take  their 
feeble  children  to  the  church  of  St.  Theodore,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Palatine  hill,  where  the  Roman  matrons  formerly 
dedicated  their  children  to  Romulus.  On  a  certain  day 
the  cardinals  are  seen  sweeping  up  the  nave  of  St.  Peter's, 
in  their  scarlet  robes,  in  order  to  kiss  the  bronze  statue 
of  the  Apostle,  which,  it  is  said,  was  once  dedicated  to 
the  worship  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus.  No  Roman  Catholic 
will  pass  it  without  going  through  the  ceremony.  Three  of 
the  toe-nails  of  the  right  foot  are  worn  away.  Cicero, 
describing  a  statue,  says  that  its  mouth  and  chin  were  some- 
what worn,  because  the  people  in  their  prayers  and  thanks- 
givings were  accustomed,  not  only  to  worship  it,  but  to  kiss 
it.  On  the  left  side  of  the  church  of  St.  Mary,  on  the 
Capitoline  hill,  are  exposed,  at  Christmas,  two  images  of 
Augustus  and  the  Cumaean  Sibyl,  respectively,  in  memory 
of  the  popular  tradition,  that  the  Sibyl  predicted  the  birth  of 
our  Saviour,  and  that  Augustus  therefore  erected  an  altar 
to  her  memory.  Particular  churches  in  Rome  are  filled 
with  votive  offerings,  from  penitent  criminals,  or  from  those 
who  have  escaped  various  dangers.  The  ancient  mariner 
vowed  to  Castor  and  Pollux,  or  to  Neptune ;  the  shepherd 
dedicated  his  pipe  to  Pan ;  the  poet  vowed  to  Apollo ;  and 
the  successful  general  to  Jupiter  Feretrius. 

Nothing  is  more  striking  than  a  Roman  Catholic  funeral, 
especially  when  it  occurs  about  midnight.  The  body,  placed 
on  a  bier,  is  borne  on  men's  shoulders,  with  the  face  ex- 
posed.    Two  files  of  hooded  monks  chant  the  offices  for 

*  Rome  Pagan  and  Papal,  1846,  p.  24. 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY,  29 

the  dead  in  a  low  and  melancholy  tone,  each  bearing  a 
gleaming  torch.  The  exact  counterpart  of  this  might  have 
been  witnessed  in  Rome  two  thousand  years  ago.  The 
Pagan  brought  an  animal  or  the  fruits  of  the  earth  as  an 
offering  on  the  altar.  He  performed  a  lustration  with  water 
and  incense.  He  supplicated  Vesta  and  Janus  with  grain 
and  wine.  The  Christian  brings  a  composition,  which  to 
the  senses  appears  to  be  nothing  but  flour  and  water, 
but  which,  as  he  asserts,  is  the  very  body  of  the  Lord 
Jesus. 

Christmas  is  the  Saturnalia  of  the  Romans ;  New  Year's 
day  too  was  a  day  of  great  account  in  ancient  Rome,  and  it 
is  equally  so  in  modern  Rome.  The  Carnival  is  a  repre- 
sentation, in  innumerable  particulars,  of  the  Saturnalia  and 
the  Bacchanalian  Lupercalia  of  the  ancients.* 

*  The  Carnival  commences  on  Saturday  and  continues  eleven  days, 
excepting  the  two  Sabbaths  and  Friday.  A  long  and  straight  street  — 
the  Corso  —  is  filled  with  masked  persons,  soldiers,  horses  and  car- 
riages, slowly  passing  in  two  lines  and  then  returning.  The  maskers 
are  decked  in  all  kinds  of  fantastic  garments,  women's  clothes,  horns 
on  their  heads,  tails  sticking  out  of  their  bodies,  occasionally  pre- 
tending to  drink  out  of  empty  bottles  in  their  hands,  reeling  as  if  intox- 
icated, etc.  In  each  of  the  carriages  are  from  two  to  eight  or  ten  per- 
sons, largely  provided  with  flowers  tied  together  in  knots,  and  with 
little  balls  made  of  lime  in  the  form  of  sugar-plums.  These  flowers 
and  balls  are  thrown  with  great  vigor  into  the  balconies  and  windows 
of  the  houses,  or  into  the  faces  of  those  who  are  in  the  streets,  and  are 
returned  in  large  measure  from  every  direction.  In  some  cases,  half- 
pints  or  pints  of  these  plums  are  poured  down  in  rapid  succession  upon 
the  heads  and  faces  of  persons  passing.  This  most  grotesque  scene,  in 
which  the  wliole  population  of  the  Eternal  City  seems  to  be  engaged,  is 
finally  closed  by  the  racing  through  the  street  of  five  or  six  poor  horses, 
without  riders,  urged  on  by  the  shouts  of  the  people,  and  by  little  goads 
or  nails,  fastened  to  tin  plates  which  they  wear. 
3* 


30  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

In  defence  of  this  identification  of  the  customs  and  usages 
of  Pagan  and  Christian  Rome,  the  Catholic  maintains  that 
the  demon  has  been  exorcised,  the  polytheistic  rite  has  been 
sanctified,  and  that  the  vicegerent  of  the  Almighty  has  laid 
his  holy  hands  on  the  heathenish  symbol  and  converted  it 
into  an  instrument  of  God's  glory.  Christianity  has  thus 
obtained  a  visible  and  tangible  victory  over  the  ancient  faith, 
more  impressive  than  if  the  objects  of  this  idolatry  had  been 
all  extirpated. 

But  this  confident  advocate  forgets  that  a  law  of  the  human 
mind  is  stronger  than  a  decree  of  the  Pope  ;  that  none  of 
his  blessings  or  imprecations  can  annul  or  disturb  the  asso- 
ciation of  ideas.  The  imperial  statue,  the  pagan  rite,  how 
many  times  soever  the  holy  chrism  has  been  poured  upon 
them,  will  suggest  the  forbidden  idolatry,  may  invite  to  a 
repetition  of  the  unholy  act. 

This  perpetuation  of  the  old  polytheism,  this  amalgama- 
tion of  the  rites  of  idolatry  and  of  the  Christian  faith,  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  weakest  points  of  the  Romish  system.  It 
is  a  crude  mixture,  a  heterogeneous  conglomeration  of  parti- 
cles which  have  no  affinity.  Pure  Christianity  indignantly 
spurns  the  compromise,  disclaims  all  this  attempted  fusion 
of  contrary  elements,  and  will  stand,  if  at  all,  on  its  inde- 
pendent simplicity. 

4.  Again,  the  Roman  Catholic  system,  in  some  of  its 
aspects,  is  preeminently  childish  and  unreasonable.  If  its 
most  earnest  eflx)rts  had  been  directed  to  dissociate  the  un- 
derstanding and  faith,  to  separate  belief  from  common  sense, 
it  could  hardly  have  succeeded  more  perfectly.  The  tax 
which  it  practically  lays  on  the  credulity  of  human  nature 
is  almost  incredible.  This  childish  superstition  would  not 
be  extraordinary  if  it  were  confined  to  the  unreasoning  and 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  31 

illiterate  multitude,  or  if  it  were  exclusively  seen  in  retired 
villages  or  secluded  country  churches.  Our  commiseration 
w^ould  in  that  case  be  excited  for  the  dupes  of  these  wretched 
delusions.  But  when  the  most  renowned  churches  of  the 
metropolis  of  the  world  are  the  selected  scenes  of  this  jug- 
glery, —  when  the  Holy  Father  himself  and  his  most  enlight- 
ened servants  give  the  sanction  of  their  authority  and  pres- 
ence, in  the  nineteenth  century,  to  fables,  to  alleged  mira- 
cles of  the  most  ludicrous  and  lying  character,  —  the  pity 
ends  in  astonishment  that  a  system  with  such  elements  could 
have  survived  a  thousand  years,  in  a  country  that  claims  to 
be  the  great  source  of  civilization,  and  the  central  seat  of 
the  Christian  faith. 

On  one  of  the  days  in  January,  1847,  the  church  of  St. 
Andrea  delle  Fratte,  near  the  College  of  the  Propaganda, 
was  filled  repeatedly  ;  every  individual  of  the  throng,  appar- 
ently, except  a  few  foreigners,  went  up  to  the  priest,  suc- 
cessively, and  kissed  a  bone,  said  once  to  have  belonged  to 
the  patron  saint  of  the  church.  Not  a  few  of  the  elite  of 
the  city,  as  well  as  the  poor  peasantry,  were  there.  Chil- 
dren of  a  few  months  old  were  brought  in  to  touch  the  myste- 
rious relic.  Those  who  were  particularly  devout  had  the 
privilege  of  kissing  the  fragment  twice  or  thrice. 

On  the  Coelian  hill,  just  inside  of  the  southern  wall  of 
Rome,  stand  two  of  the  seven  Basil ican  churches  of  Rome, 
St.  John  Lateran  and  the  Holy  Cross  in  Jerusalem.  The 
view  from  the  top  of  St.  John  Lateran  has  no  equal  in  Rome, 
perhaps  not  on  earth.  There  are  but  few  modern  buildings 
in  the  vicinity  to  mar  the  prospect.  The  ruins  of  old  Rome 
rear  their  ivy-crowned  summits,  or  crumble  all  around  with 
a  most  melancholy  impressiveness.  On  the  west,  beyond 
the  Coliseum,  the  arch  of  Titus,  and  the  Palatine,  the  Tiber 


32  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

flows  into  the  blue  Mediterranean,  both  river  and  sea  per- 
fectly distinct.  On  the  northwest  is  the  Roman  forum, 
bounded  by  the  Tarpeian  rock  and  the  Capitoline.  On  the 
north  and  northeast  is  the  modern  city,  crowned  by  that  one 
imperial  dome.  Far  beyond,  the  prospect  is  limited  by  the 
single  mountain,  —  still  in  the  winter,  "  alta  stet  nive  can- 
didum,"  the  lyric  poet's  Soracte.  On  the  east  and  south- 
east, bright  in  the  sun's  setting  rays,  are  the  Sabine  hills, 
Tusculum,  Prseneste,  and  other  objects  so  famous  in  Latin 
story.  On  the  south  stretches  away  the  undulating  Cam- 
pagna,  traversed  by  the  old  aqueducts  with  their  vast  arches, 
and  dotted  by  the  mouldering  fragments  of  a  buried  world. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  it  would  seem,  the  churches  should  be 
built  in  all  purity  and  simplicity,  —  the  chosen  seats  of  a 
worship  befitting  the  locality,  lifting  the  soul  to  Him  who, 
while  he  sees  mighty  empires  decaying  beneath,  is  himself 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting.  Yet  these  two  churches 
are  the  selected  receptacles  of  superstition  and  impious 
fraud  ;  of  relics  which  are  an  insult  to  the  human  under- 
standing, and  which  pour  contempt  on  the  great  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

On  a  tablet  hanging  to  one  of  the  columns  of  the  taber- 
nacle over  the  high  altar  in  St.  John  Lateran,  is  a  list  of 
the  relics  which  are  there  preserved.  Some  of  them  are  as 
follows  :  Part  of  the  arm  of  St.  Helen,  mother  of  Constan- 
tine  ;  part  of  the  bones  of  Salome,  mother  of  John  ;  a  fin<Ter 
of  St.  Catharine  of  Siena  ;  part  of  the  brain  of  St.  Vincent 
of  Paul  ;  the  head  of  Zacharias,  father  of  John  the  F)aptist  ; 
the  cup  in  which  John  the  Apostle  drank  poison  by  com- 
mand of  Domitian  ;  part  of  his  garments,  and  of  the  chain 
with  which  he  was  bound  when  he  came  from  Ephesus  to 
Rome  ;  part  of  the  chin  of  John  the  Baptist ;  part  of  our 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  33 

Lord's  cradle  at  Bethleliem,  and  of  the  napkin  with  which 
he  wiped  his  hands  after  the  supper  ;  one  of  the  thorns 
of  the  crown  ;  part  of  the  sponge,  and  of  the  blood  and 
water  which  flowed  from  his  side.  In  this  church  is  also 
the  veritable  table  around  which  our  Lord  and  his  disciples 
reclined  when  the  supper  was  instituted. 

In  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  a  few  rods  east,  is  a 
parchment  list  suspended  on  the  wall  on  the  right  of  the 
apsis.  Here  it  will  be  decorous  to  quote  only  some  items. 
Among  them  is  the  finger  of  St.  Thomas,  with  which  he 
touched  the  most  holy  side  of  our  Lord,  the  same  finger 
being  preserved  at  four  other  churches  ;  the  altar  of  St. 
Helen,  so  holy  that  only  the  pontiff  and  one  cardinal  can 
celebrate  there  ;  a  great  part  of  the  holy  veil  and  of  the 
hair  of  the  Virgin  ;  and  one  bottle  of  the  most  precious  blood 
of  our  Lord. 

In  this  church,  also,  are  the  stone  on  which  the  angel 
stood  when  he  announced  the  incarnation  ;  the  stone  where 
the  Lord  wrote  the  law  on  Mt.  Sinai  ;  some  of  the  manna  of 
the  desert ;  part  of  the  rod  of  Aaron  which  budded ;  and 
relics  of  eleven  of  the  Hebrew  prophets.* 

Between  these  two  churches,  and  near  St.  John  Lateran, 
is  a  building  of  singular  form,  partly  resembling  a  church 
and  partly  a  house,  with  an  open  portico  in  front.  Within 
this  portico  are  three  flights  of  steps.  The  middle  flight  — 
the  Santa  Scala  —  is  that  by  which  Jesus  entered  the  palace 
of  Pilate.  The  steps  are  made  of  marble,  and  covered  with 
wood  to  guard  against  their  further  destruction.  How  they 
were  brought  there  is  a  matter  of  devout  conjecture.  Some- 
times more  than  two  hundred  persons  are  seen  at  a  time 

*  See  the  complete  lists  of  these  relics  ia  the  churches  ;  also  in  the 
common  descriptions  of  Rome,  e.  g.  Percy's  Eomanism,  p.  82. 


34  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

ascending  upon  their  knees  this  middle  flight.  Protestants 
are  permitted  to  walk  up  and  down  the  other  two,  though 
these  are  thought  to  have  imbibed  a  portion  of  sanctity. 
Under  the  Sacra  Confessione  in  St.  Peter's  church,  encir- 
cled by  a  beautiful  balustrade,  composed  of  marbles,  and 
decorated  with  more  than  one  hundred  superb  lamps  continu- 
ally burning,  the  mortal  remains  of  the  great  apostle  of  the 
church  repose.  In  the  Diario  Romano^  for  1847,  we  read, 
"  In  the  churches  of  Ara-Coeli,  Francesco  a  Ripa,  and  others, 
is  performed  the  function  of  the  replacement  of  the  Holy 
Infant,  Jan.  6."  This  image  was  said  to  be  miraculously 
painted  a  flesh  color,  and  it  is  held  in  the  highest  veneration 
by  the  citizens  of  Rome. 

The  contradiction  and  absurdities  into  which  this  relic- 
worship  leads,  would  be  astounding  were  they  found  in  any 
other  connection  than  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
It  may  not  be  inapposite  to  quote  a  few  of  the  details. 

The  body  of  St.  Andrew  is  worshipped  at  Constantinople, 
Amalfi,  Toulouse,  in  Russia,  at  the  convent  of  the  apos- 
tles in  Armenia,  without  reckoning  a  sixth  head  of  the 
apostle,  which  may  be  kissed  at  Rome.  The  body  of  St. 
James  is  venerated  at  Compostella,  Verona,  Toulouse,  Pis- 
toie,and  Rome,  without  mentioning  a  sixth  head,  which  is 
carried  in  procession  at  Venice,  and  a  seventh,  which  is 
preserved  in  the  abbey  of  Arras  in  France.  There  are  eight 
bodies  of  Luke,  eighteen  of  Paul,  and  thirty  of  St.  Pancra- 
tius,  in  as  many  different  cities.  Constantinople  formerly 
claimed  to  have  possession  of  St.  Peter's  body,  except  the 
head,  which  was  left  at  Rome.  His  relics  are  venerated  in 
the  abbey  of  Claude  in  France  and  in  the  convent  of  Cluny 
at  Aries.  There  is  a  finger  in  the  monastery  of  the  Three 
Churches  in  Armenia,  a  thumb  at  Toulouse,  and  three  teeth 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  35 

at  Marseilles.  The  chair  in  St.  Peter's  church,  in  which 
that  apostle  exercised  his  office,  is  said  to  have  been  exam- 
ined by  the  profane  French  soldiers  when  they  had  posses- 
sion of  Rome,  who  copied  the  inscription,  namely:  "There 
is  but  one  God  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet."  The  chair 
was  probably  among  the  spoils  of  the  Crusaders. 

There  is  another  account  which  seems  to  show  that  there 
have  been  at  least  two  chairs  exhibited,  each  as  identically 
the  chair  which  St.  Peter  used.  On  the  18th  of  January, 
1688,  when  the  chair  was  cleaning,  in  order  to  be  set  up  in 
some  conspicuous  place  in  the  Vatican,  there  unluckily 
appeared  carved  upon  it  the  twelve  labors  of  Hercules. 
Giacomo  Bartolini,  who  was  present  at  the  discovery,  affirms 
that  their  worship  was  not  misplaced,  since  it  was  paid,  not 
to  the  wood,  but  to  the  prince  of  the  apostles.  Another 
distinguished  author  attempted  to  explain  the  labors  of  Her- 
cules in  a  mystical  sense,  namely,  as  emblematical  of  the 
future  exploits  of  the  Popes.* 

5.  The  Roman  Catholic  system,  particularly  as  it  is  seen 
in  Italy,  is  throughout,  in  all  its  parts  and  in  all  its  aspects, 
a  religion  of  symbols,  a  system  of  types  or  sensible  signs. 
The  Romish  ritual,  the  ceremonial,  interminable  in  length, 
every  part  of  a  church,  every  article  of  the  sacerdotal  dress, 
every  fringe  on  that  dress,  every  provision  which  is  made 
for  man's  spiritual  nature  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  in 
the  most  minute  particulars,  are  significant,  are  crowded 
with  a  mystic  importance.  Myriads  of  instructors  start  up 
on  every  side,  who  will  never  allow  the  poor  man  to  think 
an  original  thought,  or  step  once  out  of  the  charmed  circle. 

*  See  Lady  Morgan's  Italy,  and  the  Treatise  by  Dr.  A.  Sheler  on 
the  question,  Was  St.  Peter  ever  at  Rome'?  London,  1846,  pp.  117, 
118. 


36  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

The  crucifix  is  placed  on  the  centre  of  the  altar  where 
the  bloody  immolation  is  to  be  made  ;  candles  are  lighted  ; 
by  their  blaze  exhibiting  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  form  of  fiery  tongues  ;  the  altar  must  be  of  stone  rep- 
resenting the  rock  of  salvation  ;  the  vestment  must  be  white 
on  the  festival  of  those  saints  who,  without  shedding  their 
blood,  gave  their  testimony  by  the  practice  of  exalted  vir- 
tues ;  red  on  the  festivals  of  martyrs  ;  violet  in  times  of 
penance  ;  green  on  those  days  when  there  is  no  special 
solemnity  ;  and  black  on  Good  Friday.  In  the  alb  of  the 
priest,  the  beholders  see  the  white  robe  in  which  the  Saviour 
was  clothed  when  he  was  sent  back  by  Herod  to  Pilate. 
The  cincture  I'eminds  the  faithful  of  the  cord  which  bound 
the  innocent  victim.  The  stole  is  significant  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Saviour  was  fastened  to  the  cross  ;  it  forms  a 
kind  of  yoke  on  the  shoulders,  reminding  the  wearer  of 
Jesus,  who  can  enable  him  to  bear  his  cross.  The  hand- 
kerchief suggests  to  the  congregation  the  cord  by  which  the 
Lamb  of  God  was  bound  to  the  pillar  when  he  was  scourged. 
Another  vestment  represents  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ.* 

Thus  it  is  in  innumerable  particulars,  in  a  thousand 
branches  and  ramifications  of  this  cumbrous  system.  It 
does  not  address  the  reason,  it  speaks  to  the  eye  ;  it  does 
not  lead  to  profound  meditation,  it  kindles  the  fancy.  It 
discourages  all  liberal  inquiry,  all  manly  investigation,  all 
independent  training.!     It  is   founded   on   the  assumption 

*  See  Bishop  England's  Explanation,  passim. 

t  "  The  Church  requires  of  her  children,  that  they  shall  conform  their 
minds  to  that  meaning  which  has  been  received  in  the  beginning  with 
the  books  themselves,  from  their  inspired  compilers ;  and  that  they 
will  never  take  and  interpret  them  otherwise  than  according  to  the 
unanimous  consent  of  those  fothcrs,  wlio  in  every  age  have  given  to 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  37 

that  the  human  race  is  to  be  for  ever  in  its  childhood,  always 
to  be  wrapped  in  its  swaddling-bands,  never  to  go  beyond 
its  elementary  lessons,  never  to  be  disengaged  from  the 
hand  of  its  teacher,  never  to  come  into  the  glorious  freedom 
of  the  children  of  God.  It  is,  in  many  of  its  aspects,  Juda- 
ism carried  out  into  detail,  omitting  that  common  sense  and 
those  lofty  views  which  characterize  the  earlier  Economy. 
Now  the  question  is.  Will  the  world,  will  Italy,  always  be 
in  bondage  to  these  beggarly  elements  ?  to  the  provisions 
of  an  introductory  dispensation,  now  utterly  barren  and 
effete  ?  The  question  needs  only  to  be  stated  to  be  an- 
swered. As  surely  as  civilization  and  knowledge  increase, 
some  of  the  most  objectionable  characteristics  of  the  Romish 
system  must  be  abandoned.  The  contrast  between  them 
and  Christianity  is  as  great  as  it  is  between  the  Mishna  and 
the  New  Testament. 

6.  Again,  the  Roman  Catholic  system  is  based  on  the 
interpretation,  or  the  misinterpretation,  of  a  very  few  picked 
passages  of  the  Bible.  This  is  obvious,  not  only  in  her 
written  Apologies,  but  upon  and  within  her  churches ;  in 
the  inscriptions  on  her  altars  ;  in  her  monumental  tablets 
for  the  dead  ;  on  her  memorial  crosses  by  the  road-side, 
and  wherever  she  has  been  able  to  affix  her  watchwords. 
The  text  declaring  the  supremacy  of  St.  Peter,  "  Tu  es 
Petrus,  et  super  banc  petram  sedificabo  ecclesiam  meam,  et 
tibi  dabo  claves  regni  coelorum,"  is  written  in  colossal  lot- 
us the  uninterrupted  testimony  of  this  original  signification.  She 
knows  of  no  principle  of  common  sense,  or  of  religion,  upon  which  any 
individual  could,  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  assume  to  himself  the  pre- 
rogative of  discovering  the  true  meaning  of  any  passage  of  the  Bible  to 
be  different  from  that  which  is  thus  testified  by  the  unanimous  declara- 
tion of  the  great  bulk  of  Christendom."  —  Bishop  England. 

VOL.  II.  4 


38  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

ters  of  gold  upon  a  purple  ground  within  the  dome  of  her 
metropolitan  temple.  The  one  passage  in  which  auricular 
confession  finds  its  authority,  is  rung  upon  by  a  thousand 
changes.  One  isolated  passage,  ever  on  the  lips  of  the 
priest,  is  the  invariable  support  of  the  mysterious  transub- 
stantiation.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  to  rest  on  the  monosylla- 
ble. From  a  solitary  declaration  is  derived  the  power  of 
the  priest  to  absolve  the  sinner.  The  perpetual  virginity  of 
Mary  is  inferred  from  half  a' verse,  which  by  natural  impli- 
cation teaches  the  direct  contrary.  The  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  has  its  basis  on  a  few  passages  which,  according  to 
the  declarations  of  the  inspired  writers  themselves,  had  only 
a  local  and  temporary  application.  The  doctrine  of  pen- 
ances appeals  to  the  mistranslation  of  a  single  Greek  noun. 

Now  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  any  system  of  re- 
ligious doctrine  or  of  church  government,  which  can  find  no 
wider  support,  must  ultimately  fall.  No  Christian  hierarchy 
can  stand  which  shrinks  from  the  examination  of  any  por- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  or  which  puts  forth  its  claims  on  the 
strength  of  a  few  passages  which  are  severed  from  their 
context.  It  is  the  glory  of  Protestantism  that  it  has  no  fa- 
vorite chapters  and  verses.  It  stands  or  falls  on  the  spirit 
of  the  entire  volume,  on  the  widest  induction  of  particulars, 
on  the  consentaneous  support  of  all  the  sacred  writers,  and 
of  all  which  they  declare.  It  pretends  to  no  darling  Apostle, 
to  no  artfully  culled  symbols ;  it  shrinks  from  no  argument, 
is  afraid  of  no  catechizing,  never  arrays  faith  against  rea- 
son, and  relies  on  that  same  broad,  common-sense  inter- 
pretation of  the  Bible,  which  our  great  jurist  would  apply  to 
the  constitution  of  his  country. 

7.  We  may  infer,  finally,  the  ultimate  downfall  or  the 
essential  reformation  of  the  Roman  Catholic  system  in  Italy, 
from  the  character  and  history  of  the  present  pontiff. 


THE    ROMAN   CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  39 

When  the  historian  Niebuhr  was  in  Rome,  about  thirty- 
years  ago,  he  said  that  the  Itahans  were  a  nation  of  walking 
dead  men.  It  is  so  no  longer.  About  two  years  since, 
there  was  a  concerted  night  celebration  of  the  former  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Austrians  from  Genoa.  The  mountain-tops, 
which  no  policemen  could  reach,  were  at  one  and  the  same 
moment  in  a  blaze.  These  midnight  fires,  responding 
from  summit  to  summit,  were  but  a  symbol  of  the  fires  that 
were  burning  in  a  nation's  breast.  It  was  the  signal  of  the 
reunion,  of  the  renationalizing  of  the  Italian  State.  It  had 
found  in  one  name,  as  it  thought,  a  binding  watchword,  in 
one  man  a  living  impersonation  of  its  spirit.  Pius  the  Ninth 
was  not  elected  by  accident.  He  did  not  owe  his  elevation 
to  the  intrigues  of  the  French  ambassador,  or  to  a  misap- 
prehension of  his  character  on  the  part  of  the  conclave. 
He  was  elected  because  he  had  served  in  a  civil  employ- 
ment before  he  became  a  priest ;  because  he  was  a  native 
of  the  liberal,  the  Adriatic  side  of  the  Peninsula  ;  because 
men  had  confidence  in  his  frank,  open,  and  good  face  ;  in 
short,  because  he  was  the  antipodes  of  that  aged  bigot, 
Gregory  XVI.*  Pius  the  Ninth  was  chosen  because  he 
would  open  the  prison-doors  and  let  the  captive  go  free  ;  be- 
cause it  was  hoped  that  he  would  do  that  which  had  so  often, 
and  in  so  many  places,  been  attempted  in  vain,  for  which 
torrents  of  patriot  blood  had  been  shed,  for  which  Austrian 
dungeons  had  been  filled  and  thousands  of  exiles  had  wan- 
dered in  distant  lands.  His  election  was  a  necessity  of  the 
times,  to  which  a  thousand  influences  had  been  for  many 

*  It  is  said  that  this  Pope  punished  capitally  in  sixteen  years,  in  a 
population  of  less  than  three  millions,  three  hundred  persons,  and  in- 
carcerated, mostly  for  political  offences,  not  less  than  thirty  thousand. 


40  THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

years  converging.  A  second  Gregory  could  not  have  worn 
the  mitre  six  months.  No  college  of  cardinals,  or  fortress 
of  St.  Angelo,  or  inherited  sanctity,  could  have  saved  him. 
The  Roman  States  would  have  had  a  liberal  Pope,  or  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  would  have  been  left  vacant. 

What  are,  and  what  probably  will  be,  the  consequences 
of  his  elevation,  or  what  change  will  be  efiected,  either  under 
his  guidance,  or  in  opposition  to  his  will  ? 

First,  the  idea  of  the  Pope's  infallibility  as  a  temporal  or 
a  spiritual  prince  has  been  rudely  assailed,  and  can  with 
difficulty  ever  regain  its  ascendency.  The  absurdity  of  it 
is  subjected  to  constant  and  most  humiliating  tests.  So 
doubtful  has  it  become,  so  ill  fitted  is  it  to  meet  the  sudden 
emergencies  of  the  present  times,  so  extensively  is  its  in- 
efficiency known  and  canvassed,  that  its  former  strenuous 
advocates,  as  it  should  seem,  must  abandon  it. 

Secondly,  the  adoption  of  those  civil  and  municipal  re- 
forms in  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  throughout  Italy,  which 
are  most  urgently  needed.  The  days  of  misgovernment,  of 
legalized  oppression,  of  exclusive  aristocratic  pretension, 
and  of  a  wretched  serfdom,  converting  some  of  the  fairest 
districts  in  the  world  into  a  desert,  are  fast  passing  away. 
Rome,  if  she  would  retain  a  tithe  of  her  power,  must  prac- 
tise the  lessons  of  industry  and  a  wise  economy. 

Thirdly,  the  separation  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
power.  This  is  virtually  effiBcted  already.  The  Pope  at 
the  present  moment  is  an  ecclesiastical  sovereign,  and  no 
more.  It  is  not  the  cardinal  legate  who  governs  Bologna ; 
it  is  the  citizens  themselves.  It  is  not  the  Pope  who  sends 
his  troops  into  Lombardy,  or  who  disbands  the  Swiss  guard, 
or  exiles  the  Company  of  Jesus  ;  it  is  public  opinion,  acting 
through  laymen  at  Rome.     The  country  of  Brutus  and 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  41 

Cicero  and  Rienzi,  which,  three  years  ago,  was  a  despotism 
as  absolute  as  any  which  existed  on  earth,  is  now  virtually 
a  republic. 

Fourthly,  the  immediate  introduction,  to  some  extent,  of 
Protestant  opinions,  of  free  discussion  on  matters  of  religion, 
and  of  an  unrestricted  press.  The  light  has  hitherto  been 
systematically  shut  out.  For  ages  an  embargo  has  been 
laid  on  every  thing  which  would  disturb  the  Catholic  belief. 
The  ports  and  custom-houses  of  Italy  have  sought  to  ex- 
clude Protestant  opinions,  as  zealously  as  they  would  the 
infection  of  the  plague.*  But  this  peremptory  exclusion,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  is  at  an  end.  The  Index  Expurgatorius 
will,  probably,  be  hereafter  nothing  but  an  historical  curi- 
osity on  the  shelves  of  the  Vatican.  Even  should  the  hopes 
of  the  friends  of  civil  liberty  be  disappointed,  and  the  Aus- 
trian supremacy  be  again  restored  in  Lombardy,  still  it 
would  be  difficult,  if  not  impracticable,  to  reinstate  the  old 
system  of  Papal  exclusiveness.  Vienna  herself  feels  the 
quickening  breath  of  freedom.  This  beautiful  land,  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe,  will  not  again  become  the  theatre  of 
Jesuit  intrigue  and  of  inquisitorial  cruelty.  Whether  mon- 
archy, in  a  limited  form,  again  obtain  the  ascendency  or 
not,  the  cause  of  Protestant  liberty  has  received  an  accession 
of  strength  which  must  ere  long  sweep  away  all  obstacles. 

*  Three  or  four  years  ago,  a  gentleman  found  it  impossible  to  pro- 
cure a  Bible  in  the  vernacular  tongue  at  any  of  the  book-shops  in  Rome. 
In  1846-7,  no  copy  of  an  Italian  Bible  could  be  found  for  sale  in  sev- 
eral of  the  largest  cities  of  the  country,  except  that  of  Martini,  which 
is  in  several  volumes  octavo.  Now  it  is  stated  in  the  public  prints, 
that  parts  of  the  Bible,  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Catechism,  and 
extracts  from  the  writings  of  Vinet  and  of  other  Protestants,  are  trans- 
lated into  Italian  and  freely  distributed. 
4* 


42  THE   ROMAN   CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY. 

Fifthly,  we  may  also  hope  that  some  of  the  more  objec- 
tionable and  comparatively  modern  features  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  system  will  be  abandoned.  An  economical  or 
civil  reformation  must  modify,  in  a  variety  of  ways,  some 
of  the  practices  and  doctrines  of  the  Papacy.  Certain  usages 
and  articles  of  belief  cannot  endure  the  ordeal  which  eman- 
cipated reason,  popular  education,  or  an  enfranchised  Bible 
would  of  necessity  establish.  The  right  of  private  judgment 
in  matters  of  religious  belief  always  accompanies  the  diffu- 
sion of  the  Scriptures,  and  must  with  the  blessing  of  Heaven 
essentially  reform,  if  it  does  not  gradually  destroy,  the  Cath- 
olic hierarchy. 

The  degree  of  freedom  which  the  Vaudois,  who  dwell  in 
the  mountains  of  Piedmont,  after  ages  of  persecution,  now 
enjoy,  and  which  has  made  a  hundred  Alpine  valleys  break 
forth  into  singing,  is  but  an  earnest,  we  trust,  of  that  perfect 
liberty  in  Christ,  which  shall  ere  long  prevail  from  sea  to  sea, 
and  from  the  Lombard  Plain  to  the  utmost  South.  Then  it 
will  be,  indeed,  fair  Italy,  —  sublime  and  graceful  in  outward 
nature,  with  the  larger  air,  the  purple  light,  and  a  sun  sink- 
ing into  the  sea  with  a  lustre  peculiarly  his  own,  full  of  old 
reminiscences  that  stir  the  soul  to  its  depths,  the  parent  of 
freedom,  the  home  of  art,  the  nurse  of  genius  in  its  noblest 
forms,  the  guardian  of  those  whose  "  dust  is  immortality," 
where  sleeps  on  Ravenna's  shore  one  who  spake  of  "  things 
invisible  to  mortal  eye,"  where  was  revealed  to  another  all 
deathless  ideals  of  beauty,  where  apostles  and  martyrs  still 
repose  united  to  Jesus,  where  Ambrose  sung,  and  Augustine 
saw  the  vision  of  the  city  of  God,  whose  very  soil  is  instinct 
with  thought,  whose  "  ashes  are  yet  warm,"  —  how  fair 
she  will  be,  when  there  are  no  sad  contrasts  in  her  moral 


THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    RELIGION    IN    ITALY.  43 

and  religious  state,  when  the  spirit  that  once  evangelized 
the  Eternal  City  shall  again  pervade  her  plastic,  susceptible, 
and  most  interesting  people,  when,  from  all  her  vine-crowned 
hills  and  delicious  valleys,  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall 
return  and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  ! 


SLAVERY  IN  ANCIENT  GREECE.* 


There  has  not  been  any  attempt,  within  our  knowledge, 
to  investigate  thoroughly  the  condition  of  Grecian  Slavery .t 
The  ancient  historian,  for  the  most  part,  concerned  himself 
only  with  the  freeborn  citizen.  He  had  in  general  no  sym- 
pathies to  expend  in  behalf  of  the  great  prostrate  multitude, 
who  toiled  and  died  unseen.  We  have  allusions,  incidental 
notices,  paragraphs  scattered  here  and  there  in  the  long 
records  from  Hesiod  down  to  the  historians  of  Byzantium. 
The  thoughtful  tragedian  sometimes  drops  a  tear  for  the 
poor  slave,  and  the  comic  poet  raises  a  laugh  at  his  expense, 
but  no  Xenophon  was  found  to  lift  the  curtain  and  detail  the 
features  of  that  system,  which  deprived  at  least  two  thirds 
of  the  population  of  Greece  of  all  political  importance,  and, 
in  a  great  measure,  of  happiness  itself.  In  the  following 
pages  we  propose  to  collect  and  embody  such  facts  and 

*  This  Essay  was  published  in  the  Biblical  Repository  for  January, 
1835,  and  was  afterwards  republished  in  Great  Britain. 

t  The  German  work  of  Reitemeier  excepted,  which  we  have  not 
been  able  to  procure.  So  far  as  we  know,  he  is  the  only  author  who 
has  written  formally  on  the  subject. 


SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT   GKEECE.  45 

notices  as  a  somewhat  patient  examination  of  Greek  writers 
has  brought  to  our  knowledge. 

Greece,  in  its  early  days,  was  in  a  state  of  perpetual 
piratical  warfare.  Cattle,  as  the  great  means  of  subsistence, 
were  first  the  object  of  plunder.  Then,  as  the  inhabitants, 
by  degrees,  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  men,  women, 
and  children  were  sought  for  slaves.  A  sea,  which  has 
innumerable  islands  and  ports,  offered  powerful  incentives 
to  piracy.  Perhaps  the  conduct  of  the  Phoenicians  towards 
the  uncivilized  nations,  among  whom  the  desire  of  gain  led 
them,  was  not  always  the  most  upright  or  humane.  Hostili- 
ties would  naturally  ensue  ;  and  hence  might  first  arise  the  es- 
timation of  piracy,  which  was  a  fruitful  source  of  slavery,  and 
long  prevailed  among  the  Greeks  as  an  honorable  practice. 

From  the  general  account  of  the  polity  of  the  island  of 
Crete,  furnished  by  Plato  and  Aristotle,  we  find  that  Minos 
established  his  system  upon  two  principles ;  that  freemen 
should  be  all  equal  ;  and  that  they  should  be  served  by 
slaves.  The  soil  was  cultivated  by  the  slaves  on  the  public 
account ;  the  freemen  ate  together  at  the  public  tables,  and 
their  families  were  subsisted  from  the  public  stock.  While 
a  comparatively  small  society  lived  in  freedom  and  honora- 
ble leisure,  a  much  larger  portion  of  the  human  race  was, 
for  their  sakes,  doomed  to  rigid  and  irredeemable  slavery. 
In  the  same  manner,  without  doubt,  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Sicyon,  Corinth,  Argos,  and  other  cities,  were  unhappily 
divided. 

In  Homer,  we  find  many  allusions  to  manners  and  cus- 
toms growing  out  of  a  state  of  slavery.  "  These  are  the 
evils,"  we  are  told  in  the  Iliad,  "  that  follow  the  capture  of 
a  town  :  the  men  are  killed  ;  the  city  is  burned  to  the 
ground ;  the  women  and  children  of  all  ranks  are  carried 


46  SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE. 

off  for  slaves."  *  "  Wretch  that  I  am  !  "  says  Priam,  "  what 
evil  does  the  great  Jupiter  bring  on  me  in  my  old  age ! 
My  sons  slain,  my  daughters  dragged  into  slavery ;  violence 
pervading  even  the  chambers  of  my  palace  ;  and  the  very 
infants  dashed  against  the  ground  in  horrid  sport  of  war."  t 
In  the  Odyssey,  we  discover  many  allusions  to  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery.  The  directions  which  Penelope's  house- 
keeper gives  are  as  follows :  "  Go  quickly !  some  of  you 
sweep  the  house  and  sprinkle  it,  and  let  the  crimson  carpets 
be  spread  on  the  seats ;  let  others  rub  well  the  tables  with 
sponges,  and  wash  carefully  the  bowls  and  cups.  Some  of 
you  go  instantly  to  the  fountain  for  water."  J  No  less  than 
twenty  went  on  this  errand.  The  whole  number  of  maid- 
servants was  fifty  ;  not  all,  however,  employed  in  house- 
hold business ;  for  we  find  fifty  also  forming  the  establish- 
ment of  Alcinoiis  ;  of  whom  some,  says  the  poet,  ground  at 
the  mill,  and  some  turned  the  spindle  or  threw  the  shuttle. 
Men-servants  waited  at  meals  ;  and  those  of  Ulysses's  house- 
hold are  described  as  comely  youths,  well  clothed,  and 
always  neat  in  their  appearance.  Servants  of  both  sexes 
seem  to  have  been  all  slaves.  It  was  praise,  equally  for  a 
slave  and  a  princess,  to  be  skilful  in  the  business  of  spinning, 
needle-work,  and  the  loom.  The  princess  Nausicaa,  the 
beautiful  daughter  of  the  king  of  Phaeacia,  went  with  the 
female  slaves,  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  mules,  to  a  fountain, 
in  a  sequestered  spot,  at  some  distance  from  the  city,  to 
wash  the  clothes  of  the  family. 

In  estimating  the  happiness  of  the  heroic  ages,  we  must 
take  into  account  its  extreme  instability,  arising  in  part 

*  TeKva  8e  t  aWoi  ayovai,  ^adv^avovs  re  yvvalKas.     II.  IX.  594. 

f  eXKrjdfia-as  re  dvyarpas.     II.  XXII.  62. 

i  Odyssey,  XX.  149. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE.  47 

from  the  institution  of  slavery.  Hence  there  is  a  melan- 
choly tinge  widely  diffused  over  the  poems  of  Homer.* 
He  frequently  adverts,  in  general  terms,  to  the  miseries  of 
mankind.  That  earth  nourishes  no  animal  more  wretched, 
than  man,  is  a  remark  which  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Jove 
himself  His  common  epithet  for  war  is  "  tearful  "  (SaKpu- 
ods).  He  seems  to  have  had  some  knowledge,  by  tradition 
or  otherwise,  of  a  period  when  slavery  did  not  exist ;  an 
idea  to  which  Herodotus  alludes,  and  Plutarch  also  in  his 
Life  of  Numa. 

Though  there  were  many  slaves  in  the  days  of  Homer, 
yet  their  number  was  afterwards  greatly  increased.  At 
one  time,  in  Argos,  they  assumed  the  reins  of  government, 
and  executed  all  the  affairs  of  State,  till  the  sons  of  those 
who  had  been  slain,  arriving  at  adult  age,  obtained  posses- 
sion, and  expelled  the  slaves.  The  latter  retired  to  the 
fortress  Tyrinthe,  which  they  had  seized.  A  serious  war 
followed.  After  suffering  severe  losses,  the  Argians  were 
finally  victorious.!  The  Ionian  colonies  on  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor  were  supposed  to  furnish  remarkably  fine  slaves. 
Atossa,  queen  of  Darius,  urged  that  monarch  to  make  war 
on  the  Greeks,  in  order  that  she  might  have  some  Ionian 
female  slaves.  When  the  inhabitants  of  Coos,  says  Athe- 
nseus,  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  they  allowed  no  slaves  to  be 
present.|  In  the  early  history  of  Macedonia,  we  find  that 
great  vassals  of  the  crown  held  extensive  lordships  in  the 
inland  country,  with  a  princely  authority  ;  bearing  evident 
analogy,  in  office  and  dignity,  to  the  barons  of  Europe  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  In  later  times,  also,  the  Macedonian  con- 
stitution appears  to  have  borne  a  near  resemblance  to  that 

*  See  Odyssey,  IV.  93  ;  VIII.  523  ;  XI.  621  ;  XVIII.  129. 

t  Herodotus,  Erato,  83.  J  Athenasus,  Bile  ed.  1535,  p.  131. 


48  SLAVERY    IN   ANCIENT    GREECE. 

of  the  European  kingdoms  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  when  the  combined  civil  and  military  powers 
were  divided  among  lordships,  dukedoms,  earldoms,  and 
baronies.  Lordships  and  townships  together  acknowledged 
the  sovereignty  of  one  king ;  especially  his  right  to  com- 
mand their  service  in  arms  for  the  common  defence.  Slaves 
existed  among  them,  but  less  numerous  than  in  the  repub- 
lics, and  in  a  more  mitigated  condition.  The  people  of  all 
ranks  above  slavery,  in  cities  and  throughout  the  country, 
held  the  important  right  of  judgment  on  life  and  death,  and 
of  bearing  arms  for  common  defence  against  foreign  and 
domestic  disturbers  of  the  common  peace.* 

In  Thessaly,  the  Penests,  so  called  from  their  poverty, 
{Trevrjs,  TrepeaTrjs) ,-  were  the  descendants  of  the  people  of  the 
neighboring  countries,  conquered  and  enslaved  by  the  Thes- 
salians,  and  were  frequently  formidable  to  the  government. 
They  were  most  commonly  occupied  in  cultivating  the  lands 
of  their  severe  masters.  In  their  employments,  numbers, 
and  continual  disposition  to  revolt,  they  agreed  with  the 
Lacedaemonian  Helots.t  They  first  revolted  in  the  wars  of 
the  Thessalians  with  the  Acha3ans,  Perrhsebians,  and  Mag- 
nesians.  Aristotle  mentions,  that  the  island  of  jEgina,  at 
one  time,  contained  470,000  slaves.  This  statement  seems 
to  be  correct,  though  it  has  been  called  in  question  by 
Hume.  A  learned  German,  C.  O.  Miiller,  has  accurately 
determined  the  area  of  ^gina,  from  Gell's  map  of  Argolis, 
and  made  it  42  square  miles  English ;  thus  increasing 
the  possibility  of  a  large  slave  population,  especially  if  we 
assume,  as  is  probable,  that  ^gina,  in  early  times,  had  pos- 

*  Mitford's  Greece,  Vol.  VII.  p.  191. 

t  Aristotle's  Pol.,  b.  II.;  AtheniEus,  6.  18 ;  Eurip.  Herac.  639;  Gil- 
lies's  Greece,  Vol.  I. 


SLAVERY    IN   ANCIENT   GREECE.  49 

sessions  on  the  coast  of  Argolis.  The  naval  dominion  of 
the  island,  and  its  powerful  assistance  to  others,  are  incom- 
patible with  a  small  population.  Slaves  never  occupied 
much  room,  ^gina  received  supplies  from  the  countries 
on  the  Black  Sea,  as  well  as  the  Peloponnesus,  and  particu- 
larly from  Corinth.* 

Timaeus  asserts,  that  Corinth  had  460,000  slaves,  in  early 
times,  before  Athens  had  obtained  possession  of  the  com- 
merce of  Greece  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas.  That 
the  Corinthians  kept  a  very  large  number  of  slaves,  is 
proved  by  the  expression  chcenix-measurers,  by  which  they 
were  distinguished.! 

There  are  different  accounts  of  the  origin  of  the  Helots 
at  Sparta,  who  were  distinguished  from  other  slaves  by 
name,  as  well  as  condition.  The  common  opinion  is,  that 
Helos,  (whether  an  Arcadian  town,  or  a  rebellious  depen- 
dency of  Lacedromon,  is  not  agreed,)  being  taken  by  Soils, 
son  of  Procles,  king  of  Sparta,  the  inhabitants  were,  ac- 
cording to  the  practice  of  the  times,  reduced  to  slavery, 
and  dispersed  in  such  numbers  over  Laconia,  that  the 
name  of  Helot  prevailed  in  that  country  as  synonymous 
with  slave.  It  appears  probable,  however,  that  the  Lace- 
dsemonians,  as  well  as  all  the  Peloponnesian  Dorians,  had 
slaves  of  Grecian  race,  before  the  reign  of  Soils  ;  and  we 
know  that,  after  it,  they  reduced  numbers  of  Greeks  to  that 
miserable  state.  But  the  institutions  of  Lycurgus  must  ne- 
cessarily have  occasioned  a  considerable  alteration  in  the 
condition  of  Lacedgemonian  slaves.  For  as  husbandry  and 
all  mechanical  arts  were  to  be  exercised  by  them  alone, 

*  See  Augustus  Boeckh's  Public  Economy  of  Athens,  1828.  Vol.  I. 
p.  55. 
t  XoipiKOfieTpai.    A  ■^olvi^  held  somewhat  more  than  a  half-gallon. 
VOL.    II.  5 


50  SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT   GREECE. 

their  consequence  in  the  State  was  considerably  increased  ; 
but  as  private  property  was  nearly  annihilated,  every  slave 
became,  in  a  great  degree,  the  slave  of  every  freeman.     In 
proportion  as  their  consequence  increased,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  look  upon  them  with  a  more  jealous  eye  ;  and  thus 
every  Helot  was  watched  by  thousands  of  jealous  masters.* 
The  cruelty  of  the  Lacedaemonians  towards  the  Helots  is 
frequently  alluded  to  by  many  authors ;  though  Plutarch, 
who  was  a  great  admirer  of  the  Spartans,  endeavors  (incon- 
clusively) to  palliate  it.    These  poor  wretches  were  marked 
out   for  slaves  in  their   di-ess,  their    gestures,  in  short,  in 
every  thing.     They  wore  dog-skin  bonnets  and  sheep-skin 
vests  ;  they  were  forbidden  to  learn  any  liberal  art,  or  to 
perform  any  act  worthy  of  their  masters.     Once  a  day  they 
received  a  certain  number  of  stripes,  for  fear  they  should 
forget  they  were  slaves.     To  crown  all,  they  were  liable  to 
the  horrible  cryptia  (/cpvirreta),  ambuscade.     The  governors 
of  the  Spartan  youthful  freemen  ordered  the  shrewdest  of 
them,  from  time  to  time,  to  disperse  themselves  in  the  coun- 
try, furnished  only  with  daggers  and  some  necessary  pro- 
visions.    In  the  day-time  they  hid  themselves,  rested  in  the 
most  private  places  they  could  find,  but  at  night  they  sallied 
out  into  the  roads  and  killed  all  the  Helots  they  could  find. 
Sometimes,  by  day,  they  fell  upon  them  in  the  fields,  and 
murdered  the  ablest  and  strongest  of  them.     Thucydides, 
in  his  history  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  relates,  that  the 
Spartans  selected  such  of  the  Helots  as  were  remarkable 
for  their  courage,  to  the  number  of  two  thousand  or  more, 
declared  them  free,  crowned  them  with  garlands,  and  con- 
ducted them  to  the  temples  of  the  gods  ;  but,  soon  after,  they 
all  disappeared,  and  no  one  could,  either  then  or  since,  give 

*  Mitford,  Vol.  I.  p.  279. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE.  51 

account  in  what  way  they  were  destroyed.  Aristotle  says, 
that  the  Ephori,  as  soon  as  they  were  invested  with  their 
office,  declared  war  against  the  Helots,  that  they  might  be 
massacred  under  pretence  of  law.  In  other  respects  they 
treated  them  with  great  inhumanity ;  sometimes  they  made 
them  drink  till  they  were  intoxicated,  and  in  that  condition 
led  them  into  the  public  halls,  to  show  the  young  men  what 
drunkenness  was.  They  ordered  them  to  sing  mean  and 
disgraceful  songs,  and  to  engage  in  ridiculous  dances,-  but 
not  to  intermeddle  with  any  thing  graceful  or  honorable. 
When  the  Thebans  invaded  Laconia,  and  took  a  great  num- 
ber of  Helots  prisoners,  they  ordered  them  to  sing  the  odes 
of  Alcmon,  Terpander,  and  others  ;  but  the  Helots  excused 
themselves,  alleging  that  it  was  forbidden  by  their  masters.* 
Plutarch  endeavors  to  prove  that  the  cruelty  practised  upon 
the  Helots  was  not  introduced  by  Lycurgus.  He  thinks 
that  the  ambuscade,  particularly,  had  its  origin  in  the  fact 
that  the  Helots  joined  with  the  Messenians,  after  a  terrible 
earthquake,  which  happened  about  467  B.  C,  whereby  a 
great  part  of  Lacedsemon  was  overthrown,  and  in  which 
above  twenty  thousand  Spartans  perished.  But  ^lian  af- 
firms expressly,  that  it  was  the  common  opinion  in  Greece, 
that  this  very  earthquake  was  a  judgment  from  heaven  upon 
the  Spartans  for  treating  these  Helots  with  such  inhumanity. t 
The  truth  is,  that  the  institutions  of  Lycurgus  made  slavery 
indispensable.  The  passion  for  military  glory  was  univer- 
sal. Sparta  was  one  great  camp.  One  of  the  principal 
curses  (privileges,  says  Plutarch)  which  Lycurgus  procured 
for  his  countrymen,  was  the  enjoyment  of  leisure,  the  conse- 
quence of  his  forbidding  them  to  exercise  any  mechanical 
trade.     The  Helots  tilled  the  ground,  and  were  answerable 

*  Plutarch,  Life  of  Lycurgus.  t  ^lian,  Hist.  Varior.      3. 


52  SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE. 

for  its  produce.  Lycurgus  introduced  an  unnatural  state 
of  society,  and  slavery  was  one  of  its  products.  He  had  a 
model,  however,  in  the  institutions  of  Crete,  Egypt,  and 
other  countries,  where  military  men  generally  belonged  to 
the  nobility,  and  were  a  distinct  order  from  the  husbandmen, 
mechanics,  &c.  The  actual  number  of  the  Helots  was  not 
far,  we  believe,  from  four  hundred  thousand.  That  it  was 
large,  and  at  times  very  formidable,  is  the  unanimous  testi- 
mony. Their  ranks,  though  constantly  thinned  by  war  and 
the  horrible  cruelties  of  their  masters,  were  frequently  re- 
plenished by  the  subjection  of  new  tribes.  By  the  con- 
quest of  Messene,  a  large  number  of  wretched  captives  were 
forced  into  the  condition  of  Helots. 

Of  the  slavery  which  existed  in  Attica  and  Athens,  we 
have  more  definite  information.  According  to  the  accurate 
map  of  Barbie  du  Bocage,  which  is  attached  to  the  Travels 
of  Anacharsis,  the  area  of  Attica,  with  the  two  islands, 
Salamis  and  Helena,  amounts  to  about  874  square  miles. 
Xenophon  says,  that  the  Athenians  were  equal  in  number  to 
all  the  Boeotians,  that  is,  the  citizens  of  the  one  country  to 
the  citizens  of  the  other.  The  whole  population  of  Attica 
would  be  known,  if  we  could  separately  ascertain  the  num- 
ber of  the  citizens,  resident  aliens,  and  slaves,  together  with 
their  wives  and  children.  On  an  occasion  of  a  distributi9a 
of  corn,  which,  like  all  other  distributions,  was  made  accord- 
ing to  the  register  of  the  adult  citizens  of  eighteen  years  of 
age  and  upwards,  a  scrutiny  was  instituted  in  the  archon- 
ship  of  Lysimachides,  Olymp.  83.  4,  into  the  genuineness 
of  their  birth  (yvrjo-ioTris).  There  were  then  found,  accord- 
ing to  Philochorus,  only  14,240  genuine  citizens  ;  and 
4,760,  who  had  assumed  the  rights  of  citizens  unjustly,  were 
in  consequence  sold  as  slaves.     Previously,  therefore,  there 


SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT   GREECE.  53 

were  19,000  persons,  who  passed  for  citizens.  After  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  besides  13,000 
heavy-armed  infantry  (oTrXiVat)  there  were  also  16,000 
others  in  Athens,  who  consisted  of  the  oldest  and  youngest 
citizens  and  a  certain  number  of  resident  aliens  ;  the  num- 
ber of  citizens  must  therefore  at  that  time  have  been  higher. 
An  enumeration  of  the  people  was  effected  by  Demetrius 
Phalereus,  when  Archon  at  Athens  in  Olymp.  117.  4,  and 
yielded,  according  to  Ctesicles,  21,000  citizens,  10,000 
resident  aliens,  and  400,000  slaves.  From  this  very  im- 
portant statement,  the  whole  population  of  Attica  has  been 
variously  estimated.  According  to  the  usual  rule  of  sta- 
tistics, the  adults  have  been  generally  taken  as  a  fourth 
part  of  the  population.  This  would  give  for  the  citizens 
84,000,  the  aliens  40,000,  and  the  slaves  400,000.  Sainte 
Croix  erroneously  adds  100,000  children  to  the  number 
of  slaves ;  they  were  doubtless  reckoned  in  the  400,000. 
With  regard  to  the  total  number  of  slaves,  it  is  stated  too 
much  in  round  numbers  to  be  entitled  to  perfect  confi- 
dence. It  will  "be  sufficient  to  reckon  365,000  slaves,  in- 
cluding women  and  childi'en ;  and  the  whole  population 
at  500,000  ;  of  whom  the  larger  proportion  were  men, 
since  fewer  female  than  male  slaves  were  kept,  and  not 
all  the  slaves,  by  any  means,  were  married. 

The  proportion  of  the  free  inhabitants  to  the  slaves  can 
consequently  be  taken  as  27  to  100,  or  nearly  as  one  to 
four.  In  some  of  the  American  sugar  plantations  it  has 
been  as  one  to  six.  This  number  of  slaves  cannot  appear 
too  large,  if  the  political  circumstances  of  Attica  are  taken 
into  consideration.  Even  the  poorer  citizens  used  to  have 
a  slave  for  the  care  of  their  household  affairs.*     In  every 

*  See  the  beginning  of  the  Plutus  of  Aristophanes. 
5* 


54  SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT    GREECE. 

moderate  establishment  many  were  employed  for  all  possi- 
ble occupations,  such  as  grinders,  bakers,  cooks,  tailors, 
errand-boys,  or  to  accompany  the  master  and  mistress,  who 
seldom  went  out  without  an  attendant.  Any  one  who  was 
extravagant,  and  wished  to  attract  attention,  took  perhaps 
three  attendants  with  him.*  We  even  hear  of  philosophers, 
who  kept  ten  slaves.  They  were  also  let  out  as  hired  ser- 
vants ;  they  performed  all  the  labor  connected  with  the 
care  of  cattle  and  agriculture  ;  they  were  employed  in  the 
working  of  mines  and  furnaces ;  all  manual  labor  and  the 
lower  branches  of  trade  were  in  a  great  measure  carried  on 
by  them  ;  large  gangs  labored  in  the  numerous  workshops 
for  which  Athens  was  celebrated  ;  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber were  employed  in  the  merchant  vessels  and  the  fleet. 
Not  to  enumerate  many  instances  of  persons  who  had  a 
smaller  number  of  slaves,  Timarchus  kept  in  his  workshop 
eleven  or  twelve  ;  t  Demosthenes's  father,  52  or  53,  besides 
the  female  slaves  in  his  house  ;  Lysias  and  Polemarchus, 
120. 1  Plato  expressly  remarks,  that  the  free  inhabitants 
had  frequently  50  slaves,  and  the  rich  even  more.§  Phile- 
monides  had  300,  Hipponicus  600,  Nicias  1,000  slaves  in 
the  mines  alone. ||  Suidas  on  the  word  dneff/rjcfyla-aTo  men- 
tions, that  the  slaves  employed  in  the  silver  mines  alone,  and 
in  country  labor,  amounted  to  150,000.  But  Hume  raises 
an  objection  on  this  number  out  of  Xenophon.  Xenophon 
proposed  to  the  State  to  buy  public  slaves  for  the  mines, 
and  particularly  mentions  how  large  a  I'evenue  the  State 
would  receive  from  them,  if  it  had  10,000  to  begin  with, 
remarking  at  the  same  time  :  "  That  the  mines  are  able  to 

*  Demosthenes,  Oratio  pro  Phorm.         t  jEschin.  in  Timarch. 

J  Demosthenes  in  Aphob.  §  Plato,  De  Republica,  IX. 

II  Xenophon,  De  Yectigal. 


SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE.  55 

receive  many  times  this  number,  every  body  will  allow, 
who  remembers  how  much  the  slave-duty  produced  before 
the  occurrences  at  Decelea."  From  this  statement  Hume 
infers,  that  the  number  cannot  have  been  so  large  ;  for 
the  diminution  by  the  war  of  Decelea  only  amounted  to 
20,000,*  and  the  increase  of  10,000  does  not  stand  in  any 
considerable  proportion  to  so  large  a  number  as  400,000. 
It  must,  however,  be  considered,  that  after  the  war  of  Dece- 
lea the  Athenians  probably  ceased  to  keep  so  many  slaves, 
on  account  of  the  facility  of  escape,  and  that  a  still  greater 
number  than  ran  away  may  have  been  dismissed,  Xeno- 
phon  himself  proves  that  the  mines,  of  which  he  has  been 
speaking,  could  have  afforded  employment  to  many  times 
10,000.t 

In  what  manner  this  population  of  500,000  souls,  in  At- 
tica, was  distributed,  cannot  now  be  accurately  known. 
Athens  itself  contained  above  10,000  houses.  There  were, 
besides,  lodging  houses,  inhabited  by  several  families ; 
and  manufactories  contained  many  hundreds  of  slaves.  If 
180,000  are  reckoned  for  the  city  and  harbors,  and  20,000 
for  the  mines,  there  then  remain  300,000  souls  for  the  other 
608  square  miles  in  Attica  ;  which  gives  something  less  than 
493|  to  a  square  mile,  which,  with  the  numbers  of  small 
market-places,  villages,  and  farms  that  were  in  Attica,  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at. 

The  servants  at  Athens  were  of  two  sorts  ;  the  first  were 
those  who,  through  poverty,  were  forced  to  serve  for  wages, 
being  otherwise  free-born  citizens,  but  not  possessing  any 
suffrage  in  public  affairs  on  account  of  their  indigence  ;  it 
being  forbidden,  at  some  times,  that  persons  not  having  such 

*  Thucyd.  VII.  27. 

t  Boeckh,  Public  Economy  of  Athens,  Vol.  I.  p.  53. 


56  SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT   GREECE. 

an  estate  as  was  mentioned  in  the  law  should  have  the  priv- 
ilege of  giving  their  voices.  These  were  properly  called 
6^Tfs  and  TreXarai,  and  were  the  most  genteel  sort  of  ser- 
vants, being  only  in  that  condition  during  their  own  pleas- 
ure and  necessities,  and  having  power  either  to  change  their 
masters,  or,  if  they  became  able  to  subsist  by  themselves, 
wholly  to  release  themselves  from  servitude.  The  other 
kind  of  servants  were  properly  slaves  wholly  in  the  power 
of  their  masters,  who  had  as  good  a  legal  title  to  them  as 
to  their  lands  or  beasts  of  burden.  What  greatly  enhanced 
the  misery  of  their  condition  was,  that  they  had  little  hope 
of  recovering  their  freedom  themselves,  or  of  procuring  it 
for  their  posterity.  All  the  inheritance  they  could  leave 
their  children,  (for  their  masters  encouraged  them  to  marry,) 
was  the  possession  of  their  parents'  miseries,  and  a  condi- 
tion but  a  little  superior  to  that  of  beasts. 

The  following  were  the  methods  in  which  they  were  re- 
duced to  this  deplorable  bondage.  First,  some  were  poor, 
and  being  unable  to  subsist  of  themselves,  and  perhaps  deeply 
in  debt,  were  forced  to  part  with  their  freedom,  and  yield 
themselves  slaves  to  such  as  were  able  to  maintain  them. 
Secondly,  vast  numbers  were  reduced  to  slavery  by  the 
chance  of  war,  by  which  the  vanquished  were  placed  wholly 
at  the  disposal  of  the  conquerors.  Thirdly,  by  the  perfidi- 
ousness  of  those  who  traded  in  slaves,  who  often  stole  persons 
of  ingenuous  birth  and  education  and  sold  them.  Plato  and 
Diogenes  were  sold  as  slaves.  Aristophanes  informs  us  that 
the  Thessalians  were  notorious  for  this  species  of  villany  :  — 

"  Whence  will  you  get  slaves  1     I  '11  buy  them  with  money. 
But  where  ?  for  all  the  merchants  leave  off  sale, 
Being  sufficiently  enriched  ?     Driven  by  hope  of  more  gain, 
The  slave-dealer  will  come  here  from  Thessaly."  * 

*  Aristoph.  Plut.  Act  II.  Scene  5. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT    GREECE.  57 

Fourthly,  slaves  were  sold  by  the  public  authority.  The 
father  of  Bion,  the  philosopher,  was  sold,  together  with  his 
whole  family,  for  an  offence  against  the  laws  of  the  custom- 
house, though  this  did  not  take  place  at  Athens, 

At  Athens,  when  a  slave  was  first  brought  home,  there 
was  an  entertainment  provided  to  welcome  him  to  his  new 
service,  and  certain  sweetmeats  were  poured  upon  his  head. 
This  ceremony  was  not  practised  elsewhere,  though  in  all 
countries  slaves  were  bought  and  sold  like  other  com- 
modities. The  Thracians  are  particularly  remarkable  for 
purchasing  them  with  salt.*  The  Chians,  whose  slaves, 
according  to  Thucydides,  were  very  numerous  and  were 
treated  with  severity,  insomuch  that  on  one  occasion  they 
revolted  in  great  numbers  to  the  Athenians,!  are  reported 
to  have  been  the  first  who  gave  money  for  slaves.  Pre- 
viously, they  had  been  exchanged  for  other  commodities, 
which  was  the  ancient  way  of  trading,  before  the  invention 
of  money.  Homer's  heroes  are  often  said  to  have  ex- 
changed their  captives  for  provisions.  | 

The  following  were  some  of  the  legal  enactments  respect- 
ing slavery,  which  were  in  force  at  various  times  at  Athens. 
Persons  of  the  meanest  sort  shall  be  capable  of  no  magis- 
tracy. Let  no  person,  who  is  a  slave  by  birth,  be  made 
free  of  the  city.  They  only  shall  be  reckoned  citizens,  both 
whose  parents  are  so.  He  shall  be  looked  on  as  illegitimate, 
whose  mother  is  not  free.  No  illegitimate  persons  shall  be 
obliged  to  keep  their  parents.  No  slave  shall  presume  to 
anoint,  or  perform  exercises  in  the  pala3stra.  No  slave,  or 
woman  other  than  free-born,  shall  study  or  practise  physic. 

*  Therefore  they  were  called  Trpos  a\6s  r^yopacriieva. 

t  Thucyd.  Hist.  VIII.  48. 

}  See  the  ead  of  the  seventh  book  of  the  Iliad. 


58  SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT    GREECE. 

No  slave  shall  caress  a  free-born  youth  ;  he  who  does  so 
shall  receive  publicly  fifty  stripes.  He  that  beats  another 
man's  servant  may  have  an  action  of  battery  brought 
against  him.  No  one  may  sell  a  captive  for  a  slave,  with- 
out the  consent  of  his  former  master.  If  any  captive  has 
been  sold,  he  shall  be  rescued ;  and  let  his  rescuer  put  in 
sureties  for  his  appearance  before  the  polemarch.  If  the 
freedom  of  any  slave  has  been  unjustly  arrested  by  another, 
the  arrester  shall  be  liable  to  pay  half  the  price  of  the  slave. 
Any  slave,  unable  to  drudge  under  the  imperiousness  of  his 
master,  may  compel  him  to  let  him  quit  his  service  for  one 
more  mild  and  gentle.  Slaves  may  buy  themselves  out  of 
bondage.  No  slaves  are  to  have  their  liberty  given  them  in 
the  theatre ;  the  ci'ier  that  proclaims  it  shall  be  infamous. 
All  emancipated  slaves  shall  pay  certain  services  and  due 
homage  to  the  masters  who  gave  them  liberty,  choosing  them 
only  for  their  patrons ;  and  they  shall  not  be  wanting  in  the 
performance  of  those  duties  to  which  they  are  under  obli- 
gation by  law.  Patrons  are  permitted  to  bring  an  action  of 
anoa-Tamov  against  such  freed  slaves  as  are  remiss  in  the 
forementioned  duties,  and  reduce  them  to  their  pristine 
state  of  bondage,  if  the  charge  be  proved  against  them  ; 
but  if  the  accusation  be  groundless,  they  shall  completely 
enjoy  their  freedom.  Any  who  have  a  mind,  whether  citi- 
zens or  strangers,  may  appear  as  evidence  in  the  above- 
mentioned  cause.  He  that  redeems  a  prisoner  of  war  may 
claim  him  as  his  own,  unless  the  prisoner  himself  be  able  to 
pay  his  own  ransom.  Maintenance  is  by  no  means  to  be 
given  to  a  slave  careless  in  his  duty.* 

The  Greeks  were  very  industrious  to  prevent  and  sup- 

*  See  the  first  volume  of  Potter's  Greek  Antiquities,  pp.  144-182, 
passim.    London  ed.  1795. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT    GREECE.  59 

press  all  such  inclinations  in  slaves  as  would  lead  them  to 
desire  liberty.  In  general,  they  kept  them  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, by  no  means  condescending  to  converse  familiarly 
vi'ith  them  ;  instilling  into  them  a  mean  opinion  of  them- 
selves ;  debasing  their  natures,  and  extinguishing  in  them, 
as  far  as  possible,  all  feelings  of  generosity  and  manli- 
ness, by  an  illiberal  education,  and  accustoming  them 
to  blows  and  stripes,  which  they  thought  were  very  dis- 
agreeable to  high-born  souls.  The  following  facts  will 
show  the  general  influence  of  slavery,  according  to  the 
common  practice  of  the  greater  part  of  the  cities  and  tribes 
of  Greece.  It  was  accounted  insufferable  for  slaves  to  imi- 
tate the  conduct  of  a  freeman,  or  offer  to  be  like  him,  in 
their  dress,  or  in  any  part  of  their  behavior.  In  those  cities 
where  the  free  inhabitants  permitted  their  hair  to  grow  long, 
it  was  an  unpardonable  offence  for  a  servant  to  have  long 
hair.*  They  had  a  peculiar  form  after  which  they  cut 
their  hair,t  which  they  laid  aside  if  they  ever  recovered 
their  liberty.  And  because  slaves  were  generally  rude  and 
ignorant,  the  expression,  "  You  have  slavish  hair  in  your 
soul,"  was  generally  applied  to  any  dull,  stupid  fellow.  A 
freeman's  coat  had  two  sleeves  ;  that  of  a  slave  but  one. 
The  slaves  covered  their  heads  with  bonnets  ;  :j:  an  outer  gar- 
ment which  they  wore  reached  to  the  knees,§  and  had  at 
the  bottom  a  strip  of  sheep-skin.  They  were  subjected  to 
degrading  railleries  from  the  stage. ||  Terence,  the  scene 
of  whoge  Phormio  was  laid  in  Athens,  affirms  that  the  slaves 

*    ETreiVa  8rJTa  8ov\os  aiv  KOfirju  e'xei-s.     Aristoph.  Avibus,  912. 

f  Qpi^  dv8pano8u>8T]s. 

J  Aristoph.  Vesp.  443. 

§  KarcovaKas  (Popovirras-     Aristoph.  Lysis.  1153. 

II  Aristoph.  Acharn.  507.    Also  Thucyd.  Lib.  L 


60  SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT    GREECE. 

were  neither  permitted  to  plead  for  themselves,  nor  to  be 
witnesses  in  any  cause.*  Yet  it  was  customary  to  extort 
confession  from  them  by  torture  ;  but,  because  this  was 
often  so  violent  as  to  occasion  the  death  of  the  slave,  or  to 
disable  him  from  being  serviceable  to  his  master,  any  per- 
son, who  demanded  a  slave  for  this  purpose,  was  obliged  to 
give  his  master  a  sufficient  security  to  answer  the  loss  of 
his  slave.  The  various  modes  of  torturing  slaves  are  men- 
tioned by  Aristophanes,t  and  other  writers.  The  common 
way  of  correcting  them  for  any  offence  was  to  scourge  them 
with  whips,  sometimes  made  of  hog's  bristles.  A  villain, 
who  had  been  guilty  of  any  crime  which  deserved  punish- 
ment, was  said  fiaartyiav,  to  Stand  in  need  of,  and  as  it  were 
to  itch  for,  the  scourge.  Sometimes,  to  prevent  their  shrink- 
ing, or  running  away,  they  were  tied  fast  to  a  pillar.  Those 
convicted  of  any  notorious  offence  were  condemned  to  grind 
at  the  mill,  a  labor  very  fatiguing  in  those  days,  when  it 
was  the  custom  to  beat  the  grain  into  meal ;  our  mills  being 
the  invention  of  later  ages.  When  people  wished  to  ex- 
press the  difficulty  of  any  labor,  it  was  usual  to  compare  it 
to  grinding  in  a  mill.|  They  were  also  beaten  with  rods 
and  scourges,  sometimes,  if  their  offence  was  very  great, 
to  death.  The  mills  were  in  general  called  fivXaves,  which 
word  Julius  Pollux  says  was  unlucky,  because  of  the  cru- 

*  "  Servum  hominem  causam  orare  leges  non  sinunt ; 

Neque  testimoni  dictio  est."  —  Terence,  Phorm.  Act  I.  Scene  4. 

t    "  eV  KXl/iOKt 

Arjfras,  Kpefiaaas,  varpiyihi  paariyav,  htpav, 
SrejSXaJi',  eVtVe  ray  plvas  o^os  iyxfcov, 
nXiVSouy  e7^lT^^e^'s."  —  Ran.  Act  II.  Scene  6. 
;  "  Tibi  raecum  erit,  Crasse,  in  eodem  pistrino  vivendum."  —  Cicero 
de  Oral. 


SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT   GREECE.  61 

elty  inflicted  upon  the  slaves  in  mills.  It  was  usual  there 
to  examine  upon  the  rack.  It  was  likewise  customary  to 
stigmatize  slaves,  which  was  usually  done  in  the  forehead, 
as  being  most  visible.  Sometimes  other  parts  were  thus 
used,  it  being  not  uncommon  to  punish  the  member  which 
had  ofTended.  Thus  the  tongue  of  a  tattler  was  cut  out. 
The  usual  way  of  stigmatizing  was,  by  burning  the  part  with 
a  red-hot  iron  marked  with  certain  letters,  till  a  fair  im- 
pression was  made,  and  then  pouring  ink  into  the  furrows, 
that  the  inscription  might  be  more  conspicuous.  Persons 
thus  used  were  called  o-Tty/xariat.  Pliny  calls  them  inscrip- 
ti ;  Plautus,  literati.  This  punishment  was  seldom  or 
never  inflicted  upon  any  but  slaves  ;  and  with  them  it  was  so 
frequent,  that  the  Samians,  when  they  gave  a  great  number 
of  slaves  their  liberty,  and  admitted  them  to  offices  in  the 
State,  were  branded  with  the  infamous  name  of  literati. 
Among  some  nations,  as  the  Thracians,  Scythians,  and 
Britons,  the  stigma  was  accounted  a  mark  of  honor.  The 
slaves  were  branded  with  stigmata  not  only  as  a  punishment 
for  their  offences,  but  to  distinguish  them  in  case  they 
should  run  away.  Soldiers  were  branded  in  the  hand,  but 
slaves  on  the  forehead.  In  the  same  manner  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  stigmatize  the  votaries  of  some  of  the  gods.* 

Sometimes  in  war  the  slaves  deserted  to  the  enemy, 
which,  excepting  theft,  a  crime  almost  peculiar  to  them, 
was  the  most  common  offence  they  committed,  being  in 
many  places  the  only  way  which  they  had  to  deliver  them- 
selves ;  but  if  they  were  taken,  they  were  bound  fast  to  a 
wheel,  and   unmercifully  beaten  with   whips.     The  same 

See  Galatians  vi.  17,  ra  ariy^ara  tov  KVpiov  'irja-ov  iv  rw  crcofxari 
fiov  ^aa-rd^o},  i.  e.  the  scars  of  wounds  which  show  that  I  belong  to 
the  Lord  Jesus.     See  also  Rev.  xiv.  9.    2  Cor.  xi.  23,  25. 
VOL.  11.  6 


62  SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE. 

punishment  was  inflicted  on  them  for  theft.*  They  were 
occasionally  racked  on  the  wheel,  a  cruelty  never  practised 
upon  a  free-born  person,  to  extort  a  confession  from  them, 
when  they  were  suspected  to  have  been  accessory  to  any 
villanous  design.  Tvunava  or  rinrava  were  cudgels  or  sticks 
of  wood,  with  which  criminals,  particularly  slaves,  were 
beaten  to  death.  The  culprit  was  suspended  to  a  stake, 
and  beaten  till  he  died. 

The  Greeks  thought  it  lessened  the  dignity  of  free-born 
citizens  to  call  slaves  by  any  name  that  was  in  use  among 
them.  If  any  man  presumed  to  give  his  slave  the  name  of 
an  honorable  person,  it  was  thought  to  be  an  intolerable 
offence.  The  Roman  Emperor  Domitian  is  said  to  have 
punished  Metius  Pomposianus,  for  calling  his  slaves  by  the 
illustrious  names  of  Hannibal  and  Mago.  The  Athenians 
enacted  a  law,  that  no  man  should  presume  to  call  any  of 
his  servants  by  the  names  of  Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton, 
renowned  defenders  of  liberty,  who  opposed  the  misrule  of 
the  two  sons  of  Pisistratus.  The  Athenians  were  also  for- 
bidden to  derive  the  names  of  their  slaves  from  any  of  the 
solemn  games.  For  the  most  part,  according  to  Strabo, 
they  were  called  after  the  names  of  their  native  countries, 
as  Av86s  or  2vpos,  if  they  were  born  in  Lydia  or  Syria  ;  or 
by  the  names  which  are  most  used  in  those  nations,  as 
Manes  or  Midas  in  Phrygia  ;  Tibias  in  Paphlagonia.  The 
most  common  names  in  Athens  were  Geta  and  Davus, 
being  taken  from  the  Getes  and  Daci.  They  seldom  con- 
sisted of  above  two  syllables,  and  therefore  Demosthenes, 
having  objected  to  ^schines  that  his  father  was  a  slave, 

*  "  Non  furtum  feci,  nee  fugi,  si  mihi  dicat 
Servus,  habes  pretium,  loris  non  ureris,  aio." 

Sor.  Epist.  I. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT    GREECE.  63 

tells  him  further,  as  a  proof  of  what  he  affirms,  that  he  had 
falsified  his  name,  calling  it  Atrometus,  when  in  fact  it  was 
Tromes.  The  reason  seems  to  have  been  the  same  as  in 
the  case  of  dogs ;  a  short  name  being  more  easy  of  pronun- 
ciation. It  was  common  for  slaves  who  had  recovered 
their  freedom,  to  change  their  names  for  those  of  more  syl- 
lables. Above  all  things,  especial  care  was  taken  that 
slaves  should  not  wear  arms,  which,  since  their  number  was 
in  general  altogether  greater  than  that  of  the  citizens,  might 
have  been  dangerous  to  the  public.  On  this  account  it  was 
not  usual  for  them  to  serve  in  wars.*  Yet  in  case  of  ex- 
treme danger  it  was  allowed,  and  sometimes  when  there 
was  no  such  emergency.  For  the  maintenance  of  security 
and  order  at  Athens  there  was  a  city  guard,  composed  of 
public  slaves.f  These  persons,  though  of  low  rank,  en- 
joyed a  certain  consideration,  as  the  state  employed  them 
in  the  capacity  of  constables.  These  public  slaves  were 
also  appointed  for  the  trade-police  ;  and  subordinate  places, 
such  as  those  of  heralds  and  checking  clerks,  together  with 
other  offices  in  the  assemblies  and  courts  of  justice,  were 
filled  by  persons  of  the  same  description.  The  public 
slaves  composed  the  body-guard  of  the  Athenians.  They 
are  generally  called  bowmen,  or,  from  the  native  country 
of  the  majority,  Scythians,  or  Speusinians.  They  lived  un- 
der tents  in  the  market-place,  and  afterwards  on  the  Are- 
opagus.    Among  their  number  were  many  Thracians  and 

*  "  Vix  unus  Helenor, 
Et  Lycus  elapsi,  quorum  primEevus  Helenor; 
Mseonio  regi  quern  serva  Licymnia  furtim 
Sustulerat,  vetitisque  ad  Trojain  miserat  armis." 

Virg.  uEn.  IX.  545. 


64  SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE. 

Other  barbarians.  Their  officers  had  the  name  of  toxarchs. 
In  the  first  instance,  300  were  purchased  soon  after  the 
battle  of  Salamis.  The  number  soon  rose  to  1,000  or  1,200. 
These  troops  might,  if  necessary,  be  used  in  the  field.  As 
they  were  able-bodied  men,  they  probably  cost  three  or 
four  minas  apiece,  and,  to  keep  the  number  good,  thirty  or 
forty  must  have  been  purchased  yearly,  costing  in  all  from 
one  to  two  talents.  Their  pay  was  perhaps  three  oboli  a  day.* 
A  large  number  of  the  rowers  on  board  the  fleets  were 
slaves.  This  will  not  be  considered  strange,  if  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  Spartans  brought  their  Helots  with  them  into  the 
field  ;  that  the  Thessalian  mounted  Penestce  were  bondmen  ; 
that  a  considerable  number  of  slaves  were  always  employed 
in  war  as  attendants  on  the  army,  who  were  sometimes  even 
manumitted  ;  that  slaves  were  said  to  have  fought  as  early 
as  at  the  battle  of  Marathon,  and  afterwards  at  Chseronea, 
when  the  Athenians  granted  them  their  liberty.  It  is  re- 
marked as  an  unusual  circumstance,  that  the  seamen  of  the 
Paralos  were  all  freemen. t  At  the  successful  sea-fight  of 
Arginusaj,  there  were  many  slaves  in  the  Athenian  fleet ;  | 
and  it  equally  redounds  to  the  honor  of  both  parties,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  victory  was  chiefly  owing  to  the  slaves,  and, 
on  the  other,  that  the  Athenians  immediately  emancipated 
them,  and  made  them  Platsean  citizens. §  A  large  number 
of  slaves  were  considered,  not  as  useful  only,  but  as  neces- 
sary, to  a  State  which  possessed  a  naval  force.  It  was  only 
on  some  pressing  emergency  that  citizens  were  employed 
as  rowers. 

*  An  obolus  was  about  IJ  cents  of  our  money  ;  a  drachma,  8  cents  ; 
a  mina,  about  $  8  ;  and  a  talent,  about  $  480. 
t  Thucyd.  VIII.  73. 
t  Xenophon,  Hell.  1.  6.  17.  §  Aristoph.  Ean.  706. 


SLAVERY  IN  ANCIENT  GREECE.  65 

In  mining,  as  in  every  thing  where  labor  was  necessary, 
the  actual  work  was  performed  by  slaves.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  in  Greece  free  citizens  ever  labored  in  the  mines 
or  founderies  under  the  compulsion  of  tyrants.  The  Romans 
condemned  the  offenders  who  had  been  enslaved  by  public 
ordinance,  to  work  in  the  mines,  in  the  same  manner  that 
criminals  of  this  description  are  now  sent  by  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  to  the  mines  of  Siberia.  This  method  of  punish- 
ment cannot,  however,  have  existed  at  Athens,  as  the  com- 
munity did  not  carry  on  any  mining  at  the  public  expense  ; 
nor  did  it  let  mines  for  a  term  of  years  together  with  the 
laborers,  which  was  only  done  by  pi'ivate  individuals.  The 
master,  however,  could  probably  punish  his  slaves,  by 
forcing  them  to  labor  in  the  mines  as  well  as  in  the  mills  ; 
and,  in  general,  none  but  inferior  slaves  were  employed  in 
them,  such  as  barbarians  and  criminals.  Their  condition 
was  not,  indeed,  so  miserable  as  that  of  the  slaves  in  the 
Egyptian  mines,  where  the  condemned  laborers  worked 
without  intermission  until  they  were  so  exhausted  as  to  fall 
senseless  ;  but  notwithstanding  that  in  Attica  the  spirit  of 
freedom  had  a  mild  and  benevolent  influence  even  on  the 
treatment  of  slaves,  yet  myriads  of  slaves  are  said  to  have 
languished  in  chains  in  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  the 
mines.*  As  was  the  case  in  Italy  and  Sicily,  and  as  it  has 
frequently  been  in  modern  times,  the  insurrection  of  these 
hordes  of  slaves  was  in  Greece  neither  unfrequent,  nor  un- 
accompanied with  danger.  In  a  fragment  of  Posidonius, 
the  continuer  of  the  history  of  Polybius,  it  is  related  that  the 
mine-slaves  in  Attica  murdered  their  guards,  took  forcible 
possession  of  the  fortifications  of  Sunium,  and  from  this 
point  ravaged  the  country  for  a  considerable  time  ;  an  oc- 

*  Athen.  VII.  Plutarch  comp.  Nicias  and  Crassus  init. 
6* 


66  SLAVERY  IN   ANCIENT   GREECE. 

currence  which  probably  belongs  to  the  end  of  the  91st 
Olympiad,  about  which  time,  during  the  war  of  Decelea, 
more  than  20,000  slaves,  of  whom  the  greater  proportion 
were  manual  laborers,  escaped  from  the  Athenians.*  Of 
the  slaves  who  worked  in  the  mines,  some  belonged  to  the 
lessees,  and  for  some  a  rent  was  paid  to  the  proprietor,  the 
maintenance  being  provided  by  the  person  who  hired  them. 
The  price  of  slaves  varied,  according  to  their  bodily  and 
mental  qualities,  from  half  a  mina  to  five  and  ten  minas. 
A  common  mining  slave,  however,  did  not  cost  at  Athens 
more  than  from  three  to  six  minas,  and,  in  the  age  of  De- 
mosthenes, not  more  than  from  125  to  150  drachmas. 

When  Nicias,  the  son  of  Niceratus,  gave  a  talent  for  an 
overseer  of  his  mines,  we  are  to  understand  a  person  in 
whom  he  might  repose  entire  confidence.  For  the  most 
part,  compulsion  was  the  only  incentive  to  labor,  and  little 
favor  was  ever  shown  to  the  slaves.  By  the  hiring  of 
slaves,  the  profit  was  distributed  into  various  channels,  and 
by  this  means  persons  who  would  have  otherwise  been 
unable  to  advance  capital  for  so  expensive  an  undertaking, 
were  enabled  to  engage  in  the  business.! 

Slaves  were  generally  treated  at  Athens  with  more  hu- 
manity than  in  any  other  place.  Under  grievous  oppression, 
they  were  allowed  to  flee  to  the  temple  of  Theseus,  whence 
to  force  them  was  an  act  of  sacrilege.  Those  who  had 
been  barbarously  treated  by  their  masters,  were  allowed  the 
privilege  of  commencing  a  suit  at  law  against  them.  If  it 
appeared  that  the  complaint  was  reasonable,  the  master  was 
obliged  to  sell  his  slave.     Also,  if  any  other  citizen  did  them 

*  Thucyd.  VII.  27. 

t  See  the  Dissertation  of  Bocckh  on  the  silver  mines  of  Laurion  in 
Attica,  originally  inserted  in  the  Berlin  Transactions. 


SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE.  67 

an  injury,  they  were  allowed  to  vindicate  themselves  by  a 
course  of  law.  It  appears  also,  from  the  comedies  of  Plau- 
tus,  Terence,  and  Aristophanes,  that  they  enjoyed  great 
freedom  of  discourse,  and  had  many  pleasures  which  were 
denied  them  elsewhere.  Demosthenes  informs  us,  that  the 
condition  of  a  slave  in  Athens  was  preferable  to  that  of  a 
free  citizen  in  some  other  cities ;  which  remark,  allowing 
for  the  antithesis  of  the  orator,  must  have  contained  some 
truth.  They  were  sometimes  permitted  to  acquire  estates 
for  themselves,  and  to  take  shares  in  the  mines  on  their 
own  account.  If  they  could  procure  enough  to  pay  for  their 
liberty,  no  one  had  any  power  to  hinder  them.  Sometimes 
their  masters  dismissed  them,  if  faithful,  of  their  own  accord. 
On  the  performance  of  any  remarkable  service  for  the  pub- 
lic, the  State  generally  took  care  to  reward  them  with  liberty. 
Yet  they  were  not  advanced  to  the  rank  of  citizens  without 
great  difficulty  and  opposition.  Slaves,  as  long  as  they 
were  under  the  government  of  a  master,  were  called  ot/ceVat, 
but,  after  their  freedom  was  granted  them,  they  were  named 
8011X01,  not  being,  like  the  former,  a  part  of  their  master's 
estate,  but  only  required  to  render  some  small  services, 
such  as  were  required  of  the  imstoikoi,  to  whom  in  some  re- 
spects they  were  inferior.* 

Before  closing  this  subject,  it  will  be  interesting  to  inquire 
respecting  the  sentiments  of  some  of  the  philosophers  and 
authors  of  Greece,  on  the  right  and  expediency  of  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery.  Alcidamas,  the  scholar  of  Gorgias  of 
Leontium,  has  this  remark  :  "All  come  free  from  the  hands 
of  God ;    nature   has  made   no  man   a   slave."  t     Phile- 

*  Potter's  Antiquities,  Vol.  I.  p.  68. 

t  Scholiast  on  Aristotle's  Khetoric,  Gillies's  Greece,  Vol.  II.  p.  337. 


68  SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT   GREECE. 

mon  says,  "  Though  he  is  a  slave,  yet  he  has  the  same 
nature  with  ourselves.  No  one  was  ever  born  a  slave, 
though  his  body  by  misfortune  may  be  brought  into  subjec- 
tion." *  Menander  remarks  that  slaves  ought  not  to  be 
treated  unjustly. t  Aristotle,  in  his  Politics,  has  taken  up 
the  subject  with  his  usual  scientific  nicety.  "  By  some 
writers,"  says  Aristotle,  "  that  part  of  economy,  employed 
in  the  management  of  slaves,  has  been  dignified  with  the 
name  of  science  ;  by  others,  slavery  is  considered  as  an 
institution  altogether  unnatural,  resulting  from  the  cruel 
maxims  of  war.  Liberty,  they  assert,  is  the  great  law  of 
nature,  which  acknowledges  not  any  difference  between  the 
slave  and  the  master  ;  slavery  is  therefore  unjust,  being 
founded  on  violence.  But  property  at  large  is  merely  an 
accumulation  of  instruments,  to  be  moved  and  employed 
for  the  comfortable  subsistence  of  a  family  ;  and  even  a 
slave  is  in  this  view  a  movable  instrument,  endowed  with 
life,  which,  impelled  by  the  will  of  another,  communicates 
motion  to  other  instruments  less  excellent  than  himself. 
Among  the  instruments  subservient  to  the  comfort  of  human 
life,  there  is  this  material  distinction,  that  the  work  per- 
formed by  one  class  consists  in  production,  and  the  work 
performed  by  another  is  totally  consumed  in  use.  A  do- 
mestic slave  is  relative  to  use  ;  his  labor  is  totally  consumed 
in  promoting  the  ease  of  his  master.  He  is  merely  the 
possession  and  property,  or,  as  it  were,  the  separable  part 
of  that  master  ;  and  every  part,  whether  separable  or  insep- 
arable, is  to  be  employed,  not  according  to  its  own  caprice 
or  humor,  but  in  subserviency  to  the  general  good,  and  suit- 
ably to  reason.  It  is  to  be  regarded  simply  in  relation  to 
that  whole  or  system  to  which  it  appertains.     A  slave  is 

*  Fragmenta  of  Menander  and  Philemon,  p.  226.  t  Ibid.  40. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE.  69 

simply  the  property  of  his  master ;  but  the  master  stands  in 
many  other  relations  besides  that  of  proprietor  to  his  slaves. 
Such  is  the  nature  of  servitude.  We  proceed  to  examine 
whether  the  institution  be  wise  and  just. 

"  To  determine  this  question,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  con- 
template the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  and  to  deduce  from 
our  observations  clear  inferences  of  reason.  Government 
and  subjection,  then,  are  things  useful  and  necessary  ;  they 
prevail  everywhere,  in  animated,  as  well  as  in  brute  matter. 
From  their  first  origin,  some  natures  are  formed  to  com- 
mand, and  others  to  obey  ;  the  kinds  of  government  and 
subjection  varying  with  the  differences  of  their  objects,  but 
all  equally  useful  for  their  respective  ends  ;  and  those  kinds 
the  most  excellent,  from  which  the  most  excellent  conse- 
quences ensue.  In  compositions  endowed  with  life,  it  is 
the  province  of  mind  to  command,  and  of  matter  to  obey. 
Man  consists  of  soul  and  body,  and,  in  all  men  rightly  con- 
stituted, the  soul  commands  the  body ;  though  some  men 
are  so  grossly  depraved,  that  in  them  the  body  seems  to 
command  the  soul.  But  here  the  order  of  nature  is  per- 
verted.* Those  men,  therefore,  whose  powers  are  chiefly 
confined  to  the  body,  and  whose  principal  excellence  con- 
sists in  affording  bodily  service  ;  those,  I  say,  are  naturally 
slaves,  because  it  is  their  interest  to  be  so.  They  can  obey 
reason,  though  they  are  unable  to  exercise  it ;  and  though 
different  from  tame  animals,  who  are  disciplined  by  means 
merely  of  their  sensations  and  appetites,  they  perform  nearly 
the  same  tasks,  and  become  the  property  of  other  men  be- 
cause their  own  safety  requires  it.f 

In  this  passage,  Aristotle's  better  reason  seems  to  go  beyond  his 
theoi-y,  and  the  prejudices  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

t  But  who  or  what  shall  determine  the  degree  of  servility  which 


70  SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE. 

"  In  conformity  with  these  observations,  nature,  we  see, 
has  variously  moulded  the  human  frame.  Some  men  are 
strongly  built  and  firmly  compacted ;  others  erect  and 
graceful,  unfit  for  toil  and  drudgery,  but  capable  of  sustain- 
ing honorably  the  offices  of  war  and  peace.  This,  however, 
holds  not  universally  ;  for  a  servile  mind  is  often  lodged  in 
a  graceful  person  ;  and  we  have  often  found  bodies  formed 
for  servitude,  animated  by  the  souls  of  freemen.  Yet  the 
distinction  itself  is  not  frivolous  ;  for  were  part  of  the  human 
race  to  be  arrayed  in  that  splendor  of  beauty  which  beams 
from  the  statues  of  the  gods,  universal  consent  would  ac- 
knowledge the  rest  of  mankind  naturally  formed  to  be  their 
slaves.  The  difference  of  minds,  though  less  obvious,  is 
far  more  characteristic  and  important ;  whence  we  may 
conclude  that  slavery  is  founded  both  on  utility  and  justice. 

"  This  decision,  however,  has  been  arraigned  with  con- 
siderable plausibility  ;  for  slavery  may  be  taken  in  two 
senses,  in  one  of  which  he  is  a  slave  who  submits  to  the 
laws  of  war,  commanding  the  vanquished  to  become  the 
property  of  the  victoi*s.     This  is  acknowledged  to  be  law; 

shall  reduce  one  to  the  condition  of  slavery  1  Who  has  the  power  or 
intelligence  to  go  round  with  his  inkhorn,  and  brand  the  subject  of  free- 
dom and  slavery  respectively  ?  By  the  adoption  of  the  rule  proposed, 
many  of  us  would  be  called  to  grind  in  the  mill.  The  20,000  free 
Athenians  might  have  been  sadly  diminished.  Plato,  Aristotle,  Socra- 
tes, and  a  few  of  similar  stamp,  might  have  escaped.  Besides,  actual 
slavery  never  made  such  a  separation  as  Aristotle  indicates.  The  fact 
is  wholly  the  reverse-  There  were  noble  men  in  great  numbers, 
who  were  toiling  on  the  farms  of  Laconia,  chained  to  the  oars  of  the 
fleets,  or  delving  into  the  mines  of  Laurion.  It  was  jEsop,  Alcman, 
Epictetus,  Terence,  who  were  slaves,  while  many  a  brainless  free  dema- 
gogue was  haranguing  in  the  forum,  or  squandering  the  hard-earned 
produce  of  the  poor  slave  in  the  house  of  some  fair  Milesian. 


SLAVERY   IN   ANCIENT   GREECE.  71 

but  the  law  itself  is  accused  of  iniquity.  On  this  subject, 
wise  men  hold  different  opinions.  Some  consider  superi- 
ority as  the  proof  of  virtue  ;  while  others  deny  the  force  of 
this  argument,  maintaining  that  nothing  can  be  truly  just, 
which  is  inconsistent  with  humanity.  Unjust  wars  are  often 
successful,  by  which  persons  of  illustrious  merit  are  reduced 
to  slavery.  To  avoid  this  conclusion,  the  other  party  pro- 
pose to  limit  this  law  to  the  case  of  barbarians  vanquished 
by  Greeks  ;  for  the  nobility  of  barbarians  is  confined  to  their 
respective  countries,  but  the  nobility  of  Greece  is  as  exten- 
sive as  the  world.  But  in  so  doing,  they  abandon  their  own 
principle,  and  acknowledge  the  principles  which  we  have 
established,  that  slavery  adheres  to  the  character  itself,  and 
is  independent  of  accident.  There  are  thus  two  kinds  of 
slavery,  the  one  founded  on  nature,  the  other  established  by 
law,  or  rather  produced  by  violence.  The  first  kind  can 
take  place  only  when  the  master  is  as  fit  to  command  as 
the  slave  to  obey.*  It  is  then  profitable  both  to  the  slave 
and  master;  whose  interests,  rightly  understood,  become  as 
inseparable  as  the  interests  of  soul  and  body." 

It  will  thus  be  seen,  that  the  peculiarity  of  the  relation  be- 
tween master  and  slave  results,  according  to  Aristotle,  on 
the  superiority  of  character  in  one  man  over  another.  The 
sole  condition  seems  to  be,  that  one  man  knows  how  to  com- 
mand, and  another  knows  how  to  obey.  The  author  shows 
the  mildness  of  his  nature,  in  his  advice  to  masters  to  secure 
the  fidelity  of  slaves  by  the  pledges  of  wives  and  children, 
and  to  indulge  them  with  the  enjoyment   of  festivals   and 

*  This  kind  of  slavery  would  be  extremely  rare.  It  has  always  been 
found  unsafe  to  trust  men  with  such  power  as  a  master  exercises  over 
a  slave.  It  almost  inevitably  exerts  a  bad  effect  on  the  master.  Be- 
sides, who  is  to  determine  what  men  are  fit  to  command  1 


t^  SLAVERY    IN   ANCIENT   GREECE. 

diversions,  of  which  their  condition  stands  more  in  need 
than  that  of  freemen.  In  the  treatment  of  slaves  and  peas.- 
ants,  he  considers  it  to  be  exceedingly  difficult  to  hit  the 
middle  point  between  the  extremes  of  indulgence  and  harsh- 
ness ;  that  indulgence  which  is  productive  of  insolence,  and 
that  harshness  that  will  be  repaid  with  hatred. 

Xenophon,  following  the  example  of  his  master,  Socrates, 
raises  no  objection  against  the  institution  of  slavery.  Plato, 
in  his  Republic,  only  desires  that  no  Greeks  may  be  re- 
duced to  slavery.  In  the  sixth  book  of  his  treatise  De  Legi- 
bus,  he  adverts  to  the  question  of  the  expediency  of  slavery. 
He  says  that  many  slaves  have  been  found  superior,  in  their 
kindness  towards  masters,  to  the  brothers  and  sons  of  the 
family,  practising  all  fidelity  both  in  respect  to  persons  and 
property.  On  the  other  hand,  he  says,  that  there  seems  to 
be  nothing  in  the  soul  of  a  slave,  which  can  be  a  foundation 
for  trustworthiness  ;  verifying  the  assertion  of  Homer,  that 
in  the  day  when  Jupiter  makes  slaves  of  men,  he  deprives 
them  of  half  their  reason.  Alluding  to  the  instances  of  the 
Messenians  and  some  of  the  Italian  cities,  he  remarks  that 
the  slaves  have  caused  all  manner  of  disturbances,  so  that 
an  observer  considering  such  facts  would  be  disposed  to 
denounce  the  whole  system  as  inexpedient  and  worthless. 
He  agrees  with  Aristotle,  that  it  is  of  the  first  importance, 
though  very  difficult,  to  preserve,  in  the  treatment  of  slaves, 
the  due  medium  between  severity  on  the  one  hand,  and 
indulgence  on  the  other. 

How  a  thinking  and  philosophic  mind  could  have  failed 
to  see  the  utter  incongruity  between  the  boasted  freedom 
of  the  Greek  republics  and  the  iron  slavery  which  they 
tolerated,  seems  to  us  an  exceedingly  difficult  problem.  At 
the  time  when  Demosthenes  was  uttering  his  words  of  fire 


SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE.  73 

to  the  few  thousands  of  free  Athenians,  stimulating  them  to 
rise  up  against  the  aggressions  of  the  Northern  tyrant,  as  he 
called  Philip,  there  were  400,000  human  heings,  whose  life 
and  liberty  were  at  the  mercy  of  a  most  despotic  democracy. 
We  shall,  however,  cease  to  wonder,  when  we  reflect  on 
the  inconsistencies  of  human  nature.  In  all  ages  of  the 
world,  the  men  who  have  been  most  jealous  of  liberty  in 
their  own  persons,  have  been  most  willing  to  take  it  from 
others.  The  boon  is  too  sweet  to  be  distributed.  The 
highest  zest  is  given  to  the  enjoyment  by  contrast.  The 
liberty  coveted  is  that  resulting  from  instant  obedience  to 
every  species  of  authority  ;  in  other  words,  it  is  the  liberty 
of  despotism.  If  an  ancient  traveller  had  wished  to  see  the 
greatest  amount  of  solid  happiness,  enjoyed  by  all  ranks, 
he  must  have  left  republican  Sparta  and  Athens,  and  visited 
the  monarchy  of  Macedon.  We  ought,  however,  to  consider 
that  the  civil  polity  of  Greece  was  in  general  so  arranged 
as,  perhaps,  to  render  slavery  indispensable.  The  institu- 
tions of  Minos,  Lycurgus,  and  Solon,  derived,  doubtless,  in 
a  great  measure  from  Egypt  or  from  some  other  Oriental 
source,  were  in  many  respects  fundamentally  wrong.  They 
made  agriculture,  manufactures,  mercantile  pursuits,  and  all 
the  useful  arts,  unpopular.  The  free  citizens  were  intended 
either  for  soldiers  or  politicians  ;  the  latter  oftentimes  fur- 
nishing employment  for  the  former.  Sparta,  as  has  been 
remarked,  was  saved  by  war  and  ruined  by  peace.  The 
theory  of  Lycurgus,  in  more  than  one  respect,  was  at  war 
with  the  human  race.  He  instilled  a  stoical  fortitude  into 
the  bosoms  of  the  Spartans,  which  found  no  opportunity  for 
exercise,  except  in  enduring  the  chances  of  war,  or  wit- 
nessing the  anguish  of  the  Helots. 

In  the  numerous  wars  which  desolated,  and,  finally,  in 

VOL.  II.  7 


74  SLAVERY   IN    ANCIENT   GKEECE, 

conjunction  with  other  causes,  I'uined  the  Grecian  States, 
there  was  one  signal  alleviation.  In  the  twenty-seven  years 
of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  along  with  the  various  niiseries 
which  it  occasioned,  it  brought  very  important  benefits  to  the 
slaves.  When  all  the  neighboring  republics  were  friendly, 
the  slave  looked  around  in  vain  for  refuge  from  the  cruelty 
of  an  inhuman  master  ;  but  if  they  were  hostile,  it  behooved 
equally  the  wealthy  despot  of  many  slaves,  and  the  poor 
tyrant  of  one,  to  beware  how  he  set  the  wretch  upon  com- 
paring the  risk  of  desertion  with  the  hope  of  a  better  service. 
Even  at  Athens,  where,  in  general,  slaves  were  better  treat- 
ed than  elsewhere,  war  produced  regulations  to  soften  their 
condition.  In  the  comedy  of  Aristophanes  called  the  Clouds 
(v.  7),  we  find  an  old  country  gentleman  of  Attica  ludi- 
crously execrating  the  war,  because  he  was  no  longer  al- 
lowed to  beat  his  slaves. 

The  Grecian  States  suffered  one  of  the  most  common  and 
pernicious  evils  of  slavery,  the  absence  of  an  enhghtened 
and  virtuous  middle  class, —  that  part  in  society,  which 
constitutes  its  true  glory  and  defence.  In  Athens,  this  class 
of  men  could  not  be  intrusted  with  any  public  office,  give 
their  votes  in  the  assemblies,  or  have  any  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment. They  were  obliged  patiently  to  submit  to  all  the 
laws  enacted  by  the  citizens.  Aristophanes  compares  them 
to  chaff,  as  being  an  unprofitable  and  useless  part  of  the 
commonwealth.  The  women  were  obliged  to  carry  vessels 
of  water,  and  also  umbrellas  to  defend  the  free  women  from 
the  weather.  The  men  were  taxed  twelve  drachmas  an- 
nually, and  the  women  six.  Upon  non-payment  of  this  tax, 
they  were  liable  to  be  sold  into  slavery.  Diogenes  Laertius 
was  actually  sold,  because  he  had  not  wherewithal  to  pay 
this  tribute.     This  was  a  natural  effect  of  the  institution  of 


«» 


SLAVEKY    IN   ANCIENT    GREECE.  75 

slavery.  Almost  every  species  of  manual  labor  was  consid- 
ered degrading,  because  performed  by  slaves.  Emigrants, 
foreigners,  and  all  those  w^ho  were  not  citizens,  were  in 
general  compelled  to  resort  to  personal  labor  in  order  to 
obtain  a  subsistence.  Consequently,  in  the  view  of  public 
opinion,  they  were  fit  subjects  for  oppression  and  insult. 
They  stood  between  the  slaves  and  freemen,  and  felt  little 
sympathy  for  either,  and  in  case  of  an  insurrection  took 
part  with  the  stronger.  It  was  a  grand  defect  in  the  Gre- 
cian forms  of  government,  that  they  did  not  adequately 
provide  for  all  the  classes  in  the  community.  A  large  part 
of  the  population  was  cut  off  from  all  sympathy  with  the 
country.  Where  slaves  abound,  rich  men  can  dispense 
with  the  labor  of  the  poor,  while  the  poor  profit  in  no  way 
from  the  prosperity  of  the  rich.  The  consequences  of  this 
state  of  things  form  one  of  the  most  prominent  features  of 
Grecian  history. 

Greece  was  at  length  absorbed  in  the  Roman  Empire. 
Subsequently,  the  Roman  slave-trade,  in  that  part  of  the 
world,  seems  to  have  been  mainly  carried  on  at  Delos. 
That  island  rose  into  importance,  as  a  commercial  place, 
after  the  fall  of  Corinth,  and  grew  an  entrepot  for  trade  of 
every  sort,  between  the  East  and  West,  but  principally  for 
that  in  slaves.  It  was  resorted  to  by  the  Romans  more  than 
by  any  other  people,  and  the  slave-trade  which  they  en- 
couraged was  so  brisk,  that  the  port  became  proverbial  for 
such  traffic,  and  was  capable,  says  Strabo,  of  importing  and 
reexporfing  10,000  slaves  in  a  single  day.  The  Cilician 
pirates  made  Delos  the  great  staple  for  the  sale  of  their 
captives,  which  was  a  very  gainful  part  of  their  occupation. 
Delos  ceased  to  be  the  great  mart,  after  the  Mithridatic^war ; 
and  it  seems  probable,  that,  afterwards,  the  slave-trade  was 


76  SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE. 

transferred  to  the  various  ports  nearest  those  countries 
whence  the  slaves  came  ;  and  therefore,  perhaps,  to  the 
cities  upon  the  Euxine,  to  which  the  Romans  might  not  have 
made  direct  voyages  at  an  earlier  time.  Corinth  was  long 
the  chief  slave-mart  of  Greece,  and,  from  its  situation,  was 
likely  to  have  much  communication  with  the  ports  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Italy  ;  but  we  meet  with  no  authority  for  be- 
lieving, that  the  Romans  resorted  much  thither  for  slaves, 
or  other  commodities,  before  their  conquest  of  Greece. 

In  the  epistles  of  Paul  to  the  Grecian  churches,  there  are 
a  few  allusions  to  slavery.  Many  of  the  poor  chccnix-meas- 
urers  of  Corinth,  weary  and  heavy  laden,  doubtless  wel- 
comed with  great  eagerness  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel. 
Though  among  the  foolish  and  weak  and  despised  things 
of  that  luxurious  metropolis,  yet  God  chose  them  to  be  the 
freemen  of  the  heavenly  city.  The  instructions  which 
Paul  gave  to  them  were  of  this  tenor:  "Let  every  man 
abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he  was  called.  Art  thou 
called  being  a  servant  (boi^os)  }  care  not  for  it ;  but  if  thou 
mayest  be  made  free,  use  it  rather.  For  he  that  is  called  in 
the  Lord,  being  a  servant,  is  the  Lord's  freeman  ;  likewise 
also  he  that  is  called,  being  free,  is  Christ's  servant.  Ye  are 
bought  with  a  price  ;  be  not  ye  the  servants  of  men.  Breth- 
ren, let  every  man,  wherein  he  is  called,  therein  abide  with 
God."  *  The  exhortation,  wliich  Paul  gives  to  the  Thes- 
salonians  respecting  manual  labor,  shows  what  class  of  the 
community  he  was  addressing  t  The  same  Apostle  directs 
Titus,  who  had  been  left  in  Crete,  where  peasants  and  slaves, 
bearing  the  name  of  Periseci,  ClarotiB,  and  Mnoitse,  had  ex- 
isted from  the  earliest  times,  to  "  exhort  servants  to  be  obe- 

*  1  Cor.  vii.  20-24.  t  1  Thess.  iv.  11  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  10-12. 


SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE.  77 

dient  unto  their  own  masters,  and  to  please  them  well  in  all 
things  ;  not  answering  again,  but  showing  all  good  fidelity  ; 
that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  their  Saviour  in 
all  things."  *  The  Apostle  here  adverts  to  those  vices,  to 
which  slaves  in  all  ages  have  been  peculiarly  addicted,  — 
pilfering  and  petulance.  The  maid  at  Philippi,  who  had 
the  spirit  of  divination,  or  of  a  soothsaying  demon,  and  who 
was  very  profitable  to  her  masters,  was  doubtless  a  slave. t 

There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  material  difference, 
on  the  whole,  between  the  treatment  experienced  by  the 
slaves  under  the  Grecian  and  the  Roman  governments.  The 
Helots  might  have  enjoyed  some  advantages  from  the  fact 
that  they  were  the  property  of  the  State,  and  lived  away 
from  the  immediate  control  of  masters,  in  a  condition  some- 
what similar  to  that  of  the  serfs  of  modern  Russia  ;  yet  they 
were  liable  to  the  horrible  cryptia.  Previously  to  the  reign 
of  Antoninus  Pius,  the  slave  at  Rome  was  much  less  pro- 
tected by  law  and  public  feeling  than  the  slave  at  Athens. 
At  Sparta,  slaves  seem  to  have  had  hardly  any  hope  of 
ever  being  admitted  amongst  freemen.  At  Athens,  eman- 
cipation was  frequent ;  but  the  privileges  of  citizens  rarely 
followed,  even  to  a  limited  extent,  and  were  conferred  by 
public  authority  only.  At  Rome,  the  lowest  slave  could 
always  look  forward  to  manumission,  and  to  obtaining  the 
rank  of  a  citizen,  through  the  sole  will  of  his  master.  Still, 
the  Romans,  like  the  Greeks,  never  came  so  far  from  the 
original  view,  of  slaves  being  the  absolute  property  of  their 
owner,  as  to  consider  the  master's  rights  limited  to  the 
unpaid  services  of  the  slave,  and  his  powers  restricted 
to  those  of  a  domestic  magistrate,  for  correction  of  slight 


Titus  ii.  9, 10 ;  also  Aristotle's  Politics,  Book  II.         t  Acts  xvi.  16. 
7* 


78  SLAVERY    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE. 

misconduct,  and  for  enforcement  of  obedience  and  exer- 
tion. * 

The  effect  of  Christianity,  in  meliorating  the  usage  of 
slaves,  though  not  sudden,  was  important.  The  various 
Christian  Emperors  issued  decrees,  abridging  the  power  of 
masters,  and  raising  slaves  above  the  level  of  insentient 
creatures.  The  C'lurch  openly  condemned  the  barbarous 
treatment  of  slaves.  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  in  the  close  of 
the  second  century,  forbade  the  bishop  to  accept  the  obla- 
tions of  cruel  and  sanguinary  masters.  At  last  Justinian 
did  most  to  encourage  improvement  in  the  condition  of  bond- 
men, and  to  promote  the  ultimate  extinction  of  slavery.t 

*  See  "William  Blair's  Inquiry  into  the  State  of  Slavery  among  the 
Romans,  London,  1833.    Also  Dunlop's  History  of  Eoman  Literature, 
t  Gibbon's  Hist.  Decline  and  Fall,  Chap.  XLIV. 


KOMAN  SLAVERY  IN  THE  EARLY  CENTURIES 
OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ERA.* 


Various  definitions  are  given  by  the  Roman  and  otlier 
writers  of  the  word  servus.  Scaliger  derives  it  from  ser- 
vando,  because  the  slave  preserves  or  guards  the  property 
of  his  master.  Slaves  are  denominated  servi,  says  the  Code 
of  Justinian,  from  the  verb  servare,  to  preserve  ;  for  it  is 
the  practice  of  our  generals  to  sell  their  captives  ;  being 
accustomed  to  preserve  and  not  to  destroy  them.  Slaves 
are  also  called  Mancipia,  a  manu  capere,  in  that  they  are 
taken  by  the  hand  of  the  enemy.  Just.  Lib.  I.  Tit.  3.  The 
origin  of  the  word  servus,  says  Augustine,  De  Civit.  Lib.  XIX. 
Cap.  15,  is  understood  to  be  derived  from  the  fact,  that 
prisoners,  who  by  the  laws  of  war  might  have  been  put  to 
death,  were  preserved  by  the  victors,  and  made  slaves. 
"  Servus  est  nomen,"  says  Seneca,  "  ex  injuria  natum."  f 
Servi,  servitia,  and  mancipia  are  frequently  used  as  con- 
vertible terms.  The  term  for  a  slave  born  and  bred  in  the 
family  was  verna. 

*  This  Essay  was  published  in  the  Biblical  Repository  for  October, 
1835,  and  was  subsequently  republished  in  Great  Britain. 

t  Aristotle's  definition  of  a  slave  was  applicable  to  Italy,  Polit.  I.  6  : 
KTTJfxa  Ka\  opyavov  roii  fiecTrdrov  (ixy\rv)(ov. 


80  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

In  respect  to  the  comparative  number  of  the  slaves  and 
the  free  citizens  of  Rome,  we  have  not  sufficient  data  on 
which  to  found  a  correct  judgment.  We  may  agree  with 
Niebuhr  in  doubting  the  accuracy  of  the  older  censuses, 
which  were  taken  at  Rome.  The  Romans,  in  the  early 
periods  of  their  history,  rarely  or  never  acted  as  menial  ser- 
vants in  the  city.  Niebuhr  thinks  that  mechanical  occupa- 
tions were  not  lawful  for  plebeians.  Yet  in  the  country 
they  willingly  performed  agricultural  labor.  Lipsius  admits 
the  probability  of  there  being  as  many  slaves  as  freemen, 
or  rather  more,  within  Rome  in  its  most  populous  times. 
After  the  influx  of  wealth,  which  followed  the  foreign  con- 
quests, the  number  of  slaves  must  have  been  greatly  en- 
larged. Polybius,  Hist.  ch.  II.,  estimates  the  forces  which 
the  Romans  and  their  allies  could  bring  into  the  field,  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  Punic  wars,  at  770,000  men. 
This  enumeration,  however,  implying  a  total  free  class  of 
3,080,000,  and  an  equal  amount  of  slave  population,  is 
much  larger  than  seems  consistent  with  the  state  of  Italy  at 
that  time.  The  number  of  citizens  returned  to  Augustus  at 
the  72d  lustrum,  A.  U.  C.  745,  as  appears  from  the  monu- 
ment of  Ancyra,  was  4,163,000.  At  the  73d  lustrum,  the 
number  was  over  4,000,000.  In  the  74th  lustrum,  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius,  A.  D.  48,  the  citizens  amounted  to 
6,944,000,  of  whom,  probably,  but  a  small  proportion  consist- 
ed of  persons  out  of  Italy.  If  we  allow  two  slaves  to  each 
Roman,  an  average  below  that  of  some  Grecian  cities,  we 
should  not  in  that  case  take  into  the  account  those  slaves 
who  were  the  property  of  the  various  orders  of  freemen,  or 
those  who  belonged  to  other  slaves.  Rich  citizens  were 
very  extensive  owners  of  slaves,  kept  both  for  luxury  and 
profit,  as  domestics  or  artisans  in  town,  and  as  laborers  on 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  81 

the  vast  estates  in  the  provinces.*  Some  rich  individuals 
are  said  to  have  possessed  10,000,  and  even  20,000,  of  their 
fellow-creatures.  Seneca  says,  De  Tran.  Animi.  ch.  VIII,, 
that  Demetrius,  the  freedman  of  Pompey,  was  richer  than 
his  master.  "  Numerus  illi  quotidie  servorum,  velut  impera- 
tori  exercitus,  referebatur."  The  slaves  of  Crassus  formed 
a  large  part  of  his  fortune.  His  architects  and  masons  alone 
exceeded  500.  Scaurus  possessed  above  4,000  domestic, 
and  as  many  rural  slaves.  In  the  reign  of  Augustus,  a 
freedman,  who  had  sustained  great  losses  during  the  civil 
wars,  left  4,116  slaves,  besides  other  property.  On  one 
occasion,  the  family  of  Pedanius  Secundus,  prefect  of 
Rome  under  Nero,  was  found  to  consist  of  400  slaves  :  Tac. 
Ann.  XIV.  43, "  Quem  numerus  servorum  tuebitur,  cum  .... 
quadringenti,"  etc.  When  the  wife  of  Apuleius  gave  up  the 
lesser  part  of  her  estate  to  her  son,  400  slaves  formed  one 
of  the  items  surrendered.  Slaves  always  composed  a  great 
part  of  the  movable  property  of  individuals,  and  formed  a 
chief  article  of  ladies'  dowries.  A  law  passed  by  Augustus 
against  the  excessive  manumission  of  slaves  by  testament, 
forbidding  any  one  to  bequeathe  liberty  to  more  than  one 
fifth  of  all  his  slaves,  contains  the  following  words  :  "  Plu- 
res  autem  quam  centum  ex  majori  numero  servorum  manu- 
mitti  non  licet."  t  We  may  hence  infer  that  500  was  not 
an  extraordinary  number  of  slaves  to  be  held  by  one  owner. 
It  was  fashionable  to  go  abroad  attended  by  a  large  number 
of  slaves.  Horace,  Sat.  Lib.  I.  iii.  11,  says,  "  Habebat  ssepe 
ducentos,  ssepe  decem  servos."     Augustus  prohibited  exiles 

*  Pignorius  has  enumerated  48  classes  of  rustic  slaves,  40  of  rustic  or 
urban,  60  of  urban,  66  of  personal  attendants,  15  of  upper  servants,  13  of 
nursery  slaves,  130  of  slaves  of  luxury,  and  5  oi  military  slaves,  in  all  three 
hundred  and  twenty-Jive  classes. 

f  Hugo,  Jus  Civile  Antejustinianeum,  Voll.  p.  157. 


82  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

from  carrying  with  them  more  than  20  slaves.*  Besides  the 
domestic  and  agricultural  slaves,  were  the  gladiators,  who 
were  chiefly  slaves,  and  who  were  extremely  numerous  at 
different  periods.  We  may  have  some  idea  of  the  fre- 
quency and  ferociousness  with  which  these  were  exhibited, 
from  a  restriction  imposed  by  Augustus,  who  forbade  magis- 
trates to  give  shows  of  gladiators  above  twice  in  one  year, 
or  of  more  than  60  pairs  at  one  time.  Julius  Caesar  exhibited 
at  once  320  pairs.  Trajan  exhibited  them  for  123  days,  in 
the  course  of  which  10,000  gladiators  fought.  The  State 
and  corporate  bodies  possessed  very  many  slaves.  For  ex- 
ample, 600  were  employed  in  guarding  against  fires  in 
Rome.t  Chiysostom  says,  that  under  Theodosius  the  Great, 
and  Arcadius,  some  persons  had  2,000  or  3,000  slaves. 
S;^nesius  complains,  that  every  family  of  tolerable  means 
kept  Scythian  slaves  of  luxury  ;  and  Ammianus  Marcellinus 
informs  us,  that  luxurious  ladies  and  great  men  used  to  have 
400  or  500  servile  attendants.  From  the  time  of  Augustus 
to  Justinian,  we  may  allow  three  slaves  to  one  freeman  ;  we 
shall  thus  have  a  free  population  in  Italy  of  6,944,000,  and 
of  slaves  20,832,000,  —  total  27,776,000.  "After  weigh- 
ing every  circumstance  which  could  influence  the  balance," 
says  Gibbon,  "  it  seems  probable,  that  there  existed  in  the 
time  of  Claudius  about  twice  as  many  provincials  as  there 
were  citizens,  of  either  sex,  and  of  every  age  ;  and  that  the 
slaves  were  at  least  equal  in  number  to  the  free  inhabitants 
of  the  Roman  world.  The  total  amount  of  this  imperfect 
calculation  would  rise  to  about  120,000,000  of  persons."  J: 

*  See  Pliii.  Nat.  Hist.  XXXIII.   47,  52;   also  XXXIV.  6,  and 
XXXV.  .58. 

t  "  Publicos  servos."     Liv.  IX.  29. 

I  The   present    population    of   Italy  is    between   16,000,000    and 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  83 

The  different  methods  in  which  men  became  slaves  were 
by  war,  commerce,  the  operation  of  law  in  certain  cases, 
and  by  their  birth. 

1.  Slaves  acquired  hy  war.  In  general,  prisoners  of  war 
were  sold  immediately,  or  as  soon  as  possible,  after  their 
capture.  If  a  subsequent  treaty  provided  for  their  release, 
it  would  appear  that  a  special  law  was  passed,  ordering  the 
buyers  of  such  slaves  to  give  them  up,  on  receiving  from 
the  treasury  repayment  of  the  original  purchase  money. 
Livy,  XLII.  8,  says  in  relation  to  the  Ligurians,  10,000  of 
whom  had  surrendered  themselves  as  prisoners,  "At  ille 
[consul]  arma  omnibus  ademit,  oppidum  diruit,  ipsos  bonaque 
eorum  vendidit."  As  the  Senate  were  at  the  time  deliberat- 
ing about  the  treatment  of  them,  "  res  visa  atrox  "  ;  and  a 
decree  was  issued,  annulling  the  previous  sales,  and  com- 
pelling the  respective  purchasers  to  set  the  Ligurians  free, 
but  with  restitution  by  the  public  of  the  prices  which  had 
been  paid.  Prisoners  belonging  to  a  revolted  nation  were, 
without  exception  in  favor  of  voluntary  surrender,  sold  into 
servitude  ;  and,  sometimes,  as  a  more  severe  punishment,  or 
for  greater  precaution,  it  was  stipulated  at  their  sale,  that 
they  should  be  carried  to  distant  places,  and  should  not  be 
manumitted  within  twenty  or  thirty  years.*  After  the  fall  of 
the  Samnites  at  Aquilonia,  2,033,000  pieces  of  brass  were 
realized  by  the  sale  of  prisoners,  who  amounted  to  about 
36,000. t     Lucretius  brought  from  the  Volscian  war  1,250 

17,000,000.  See  the  Essay  of  Hume  on  the  Populousness  of  Ancient 
Nations  ;  Gibbon,  Hist.  Dec.  and  Fall,  Ch.  II. ;  Blair's  Inquiry  into  the 
State  of  Roman  Slavery,  Ch.  I. 

*  "  Ne  in  vicina  regione  servirent,  neve  intra  tricesimum  annum 
liberarentur."  —  Sueton.  Octav.  XXI. 

t  "  Id  ses  redactum  ex  captivis  dicebatur."  —  Livy,  X.  46. 


84  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

captives;  and,  by  the  capture  of  one  inconsiderable  town, 
no  less  than  4,000  slaves  were  obtained.  On  the  descent  of 
the  Romans  upon  Africa,  in  the  first  Punic  war,  20,000 
prisoners  were  taken.  Gelon,  praetor  of  Syracuse,  having 
routed  a  Carthaginian  army,  took  such  a  number  of  captives, 
that  he  gave  500  of  them  to  each  of  the  several  citizens  of 
Agrigentum.  On  the  great  victory  of  Marius  and  Catulus 
over  the  Cimbri,  60,000  were  captured.  When  Pindenissus 
was  taken  by  Cicero,  the  inhabitants  were  sold  for  more 
than  £  100,000.  Augustus,  having  overcome  the  Salassi, 
sold  as  slaves  36,000,  of  whom  8,000  were  capable  of 
bearing  arms.  Csesar,  in  his  Gallic  wars,  according  to  the 
moderate  estimate  of  Velleius  Paterculus,  took  more  than 
400,000  prisoners.  The  rule,  which  forbade  prisoners  taken 
in  civil  wars  to  be  dealt  with  as  slaves,  was  sometimes  dis- 
regarded. On  the  taking  of  Cremona  by  the  forces  of 
Vitellius,  his  genei'al  Antonius  ordered  that  none  of  the 
captives  should  be  detained ;  and  the  soldiers  could  find  no 
purchasers  for  them.*  A  slave,  carried  off  from  the  Roman 
territories  by  the  enemy,  fell  again  under  his  master's 
authority,  if  he  came  back  or  was  retaken.  Roman  citizens, 
who  had  been  made  prisoners,  recovered  their  former  rank, 
with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  belonging  to  it,  upon  their 
escape  or  recapture  from  the  enemy's  hands. 

2.  Slaves  acquired  by  commerce.  The  slave-trade  in 
Africa  is  as  old  as  history  reaches  back.  Among  the  rul- 
ing nations  of  the  North  coast,  —  the  Egyptians,  Cyrenians, 
and  Carthaginians,  —  slavery  was  not  only  established,  but 

*  The  language  of  Tacitus,  Hist.  Lib.  Ill ,  is,  "Irritamque  praedam 
militibus  effecerat  consensus  Italife,  emptionem  talium  mancipiorum 
adspernantis.  Occidi  coepere :  quod  ubi  enotuit,  a  propinquis  adfinibus- 
que  occulta  redemptebantur." 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  •  85 

they  imported  whole  armies  of  slaves,  partly  for  home  use, 
and  partly,  at  least  among  the  Carthaginians,  to  be  shipped 
for  foreign  markets.  They  were  chiefly  drawn  from  the 
interior,  where  kidnapping  was  just  as  much  carried  on  then 
as  it  is  now.  Black  male  and  female  slaves  were  even  an 
article  of  luxury,  not  only  among  the  above-mentioned  na- 
tions, but  in  Greece  and  Italy.  The  Troglodyte  Ethiopians 
seem  to  have  been  a  wild  negro  race,  dwelling  in  caves  in 
the  neighboring  mountains,  who  were  kidnapped  by  the 
Garamantes  to  be  sold  for  slaves.*  The  slave-trade  in 
Africa  was  directed  mainly  to  females,  who,  in  the  Balearian 
Islands,  were  sold  for  three  times  as  much  as  the  men.t 
For  the  building  of  public  works  at  Rome,  vast  numbers  of 
slaves  were  procured.  The  piers,  porticos,  aqueducts,  and 
roads,  whose  magnificent  ruins  are  now  an  object  of  admi- 
ration, were  constructed  by  the  sweat  and  blood  of  slaves. 
In  raising  such  a  structure  as  the  mausoleum  of  Adrian, 
thousands  of  wretched  men,  torn  from  their  own  firesides, 
toiled  unto  death.  The  island  of  Delos  became  an  extensive 
mart  for  slaves.  In  that  opulent  emporium  10,000  could 
be  bought  and  sold  in  a  single  day.  Predatory  excursions 
were  made  into  Cilicia,  Pamphylia,  and  Syria,  and  great 
numbers  were  carried  off  to  the  market-places  of  Sidon,  or 
Delos.    For  a  long  period,  great  numbers  of  slaves  ("  maxi- 

*  Heeren's  Hist.  Researches,  Vol.  I ,  Oxford  edit.,  pp.  181,  22.3,  239. 
*'  Cum  obsidibus  Cai'thaginiensium,  ut  principum  liberis,  magna  vis 
servorum  erat.  Augebant  eorum  numerum,  ut  ab  recenti  Africo  belle, 
et  ab  ipsis  Setinis  captiva  aliquot  nationis  ejus  ex  praeda  empta  man- 
cipia."  — Livy,  XXXII.  26. 

t  "  Tibi  pocula  cursor 
Gsetulus  dabit,  aut  nigri  manus  ossea  Mauri, 
Et  cui  per  mediam  nolis  occurrere  noctem, 
Clivoste  veheris  dum  per  monumenta  Latina."  —  Juv.  V.  51. 
VOT..  II.  8 


86  •  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

mus  mancipiorum  fuit  proventus")  were  drawn  from  the  in- 
terior of  Asia  Minor,  particularly  from  Phrygia  and  Cap- 
padocia.     <S/ai"e  and  Phrygian  became  almost  convertible 
terms.     So  great  a  multitude  were  carried  into  slavery,  that 
but  few  towns  were  planted  ;  the  country  was  rather  a  pas- 
turage for  flocks.     There  were  6,000  slaves  which  belonged 
to  the  temple  of  a  goddess  in  Cappadocia.     Hence  the  words 
of  Horace,  "  Mancipiis  locuples,  eget   seris   Cappadocum 
rex."  *    At  an  early  period,  the  emporia  for  slaves,  from  the 
extensive  Scythian  regions,  were  Panticapseum,  Dioscurias, 
and  Phanagoria,  all  on  the  Euxine  or  Black  Sea.     Slaves 
appear  to  have  reached  the   market  of  Rome,  under  the 
Ceesars,  in   separate  bands,  composed   of  natives  of  their 
several  countries.     The  Getse  probably  came  from  a  coun- 
try a  little  to  the  east  of  Pontus.     The  Davi  were  probably 
an  Oriental  race.     Alexandria  was  a  considerable  place  for 
the  sale  of  slaves  of  a  particular  kind.     Slaves  possessing 
certain  accomplishments  were  procured  from  Cadiz.!     Cor- 
sica, Sardinia,  and  Britain,  were  the  birthplace  of  slaves. 
The  profits  of  dealers,  who  bought  slaves  that  were  cap- 
tured in  distant  wars,  were  often  enormous.     In  the  camp 
of  Lucullus,  in  Pontus,  a  man  might  be  purchased  for  three 
shillings,  while  the  lowest  price  for  which  the  same  slave 
could  be  had  at  Rome  was,  perhaps,  nearly  £  15.|     In 
most  countries,   it  was   common   for  parents  to  sell  their 
children   into  slavery.     In  trafficking   with   comparatively 
barbarous  nations,  dealers  procured  slaves  by  barter,  at  a 
very  cheap  rate.     Salt,  for  example,  was  anciently  much 

*  See  Heyne's  Opuscula  Academica,  Vol.  IV.  p.  137.    Gottingen, 
1796. 

\  "  Forsitan  expectes,  ut  Gaditana  canoro,"  etc  —  Juv.  Sat.  XL  162. 
}  Plutarch,  Vit.  Lucullus. 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  87 

taken  by  the  Thracians  in  exchange  for  human  beings. 
Man-stealing  was,  at  all  times,  a  very  prevalent  crime 
among  the  ancients.  Paul  in  denouncing  man-stealers, 
1  Tim.  i.  10,  as  among  the  worst  of  sinners,  impresses  us 
with  the  belief,  that  the  offence  was  very  frequent.  Even 
Romans  were  often  carried  off  into  illegal  bondage,  espe- 
cially in  troublous  times,  when  individuals  were  permitted 
to  keep  private  jails  and  workhouses,  which  served  both  for 
detention  and  concealment.*  In  calamitous  times,  the  sale 
of  children  by  their  indigent  parents  was  of  frequent  occur- 
rence. Constantino  allowed  a  new-born  infant  to  be  sold 
under  the  pressure  of  extreme  want.  This  sale,  in  any  need, 
was  legalized  by  Theodosius  the  Great. 

3.  Free-horn  Romans  might  he  reduced  to  slavery  hy  the 
operation  oflaio.  Criminals  doomed  to  certain  ignominious 
punishments  were,  by  effect  of  their  sentence,  deprived  of 
citizenship,  and  sunk  into  a  state  of  servitude.  They  were 
then  termed  servi  pccnce,  and  during  the  Commonwealth 
were  the  property  of  the  public.  A  pardon  or  remission  of 
the  penalty  left  the  convict  still  a  slave,  unless  he  was  re- 
stored to  his  former  rank  by  a  special  act  of  grace.  But 
this  condition  of  penal  slavery  was  entirely  abolished  by 
Justinian.  Of  old,  those  that  did  not  give  in  their  names 
for  enrolment  in  the  militia,  were  beaten  and  sold  into  bond- 
age beyond  the  Tiber.  Those  who  did  not  make  proper 
returns  to  the  censor,  were  liable  to  be  visited  with  the  same 
punishment.  An  indigent  thief  was  adjudged  as  a  slave  to 
the  injured  party.  By  the  Claudian  decree,  reenacted  under 
Vespasian,  it  was  ordered  that  a  free-born  woman,  having  an 
intrigue  with  another  person's  slave,  should  herself  be  made 

*  "  Repurgandorum  tota  Italia  ergastulorum,  quorum  doinini  in 
invidiam  venerant,"  etc  —  Suet.  Vit.  Tib.  VIII. 


88  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

the  slave  of  her  paramour's  master.  Various  other  laws  of 
this  sort  were  passed  under  the  Emperors,  In  early  times, 
the  exposure  of  children  was  common.*  Both  the  Senecas 
relate  that  the  custom  of  exposing  feeble  and  deformed 
children  was  common. t  Healthful  infants  were  also  some- 
times left  to  perish.  Not  only  prostitutes,  but  the  wives  of 
the  most  noble  Romans,  were  frequently  guilty  of  destroy- 
ing their  children  before  their  birth.  |  It  came  at  length  to 
be  established  as  a  rule,  that  those  fathers  or  masters  who 
exposed  their  own,  or  their  slaves'  offspring,  should  lose 
their  respective  rights,  and  that  the  children  should  become 
the  slaves  of  any  one  who  chose  to  take  them  up  and  sup- 
port them.  Justinian  at  last  ordered  that  all  exposed  chil- 
dren should  be  free.  Vagrant  slaves,  mancipia  vaga,  were 
dealt  with -as  stray  goods.  Freedmen,  if  guilty  of  ingrati- 
tude towards  their  former  masters,  might  be  again  reduced 
to  slavery,  though,  according  to  Tacit.  Ann.  XIII.  26,  27, 
the  practice  was  discontinued  in  the  reign  of  Adrian. 

4.  Slavery  hy  birth.  The  following  is  the  declaration  of 
the  civil  law:  "  Slaves  are  either  born  such,  or  become  so. 
They  are  born  such,  when  they  are  the  slaves  of  bond- 

*  "  Portentosos  foetus  extinguimus,  liberos  quoque,  si  debiles  mon- 
strosique  editi  sunt,  mergimus."  — Sen.  de  Ira,  Lib.  I.  Cap.  15. 

t  "  Ex  nepte  Julia,  post  damnationem,  editum  infantem  agnosci 
alique  vetuit.''  —  Suet.  Vit.  Octav.  LXV.  After  the  death  of  Germani- 
cus,  as  an  indication  of  the  intensest  grief,  "partus  conjugum  ex- 
positi."  —  Suet.  Col.  V. 

t  "  Tantum  artes  hujus,  tantum  medicamina  possunt, 
Quae  steriles  facit,  atque  homines  in  ventre  necandoa 
Conducit."— Jay.  Sat.  VI.  595. 
See  also  Sen.  Consol.  ad  Helviam.  16,  who  speaks  of  the  custom  as 
not  uncommon.    Suet.  Vit.  Dom.  XXII.    See  the  Opus.  Academ.  of 
Tzschirner.,  p.  72,  Lip.  1829. 


ROBIAN    SLAVERY.  89 

women ;  and  they  become  slaves,  either  by  the  law  of  na- 
tions, that  is,  by  captivity,  or  by  the  civil  law,  which  hap- 
pens, when  a  free  person,  above  the  age  of  twenty,  suffers 
himself  to  be  sold,  for  the  sake  of  sharing  the  price  paid  for 
him."  Slavery  by  birth  thus  depended  on  the  condition  of 
the  mother  alone,  and  her  master  became  owner  of  her 
offspring,  born  while  she  was  his  pi'operty.  In  order  to 
determine  the  question  of  a  child's  freedom  or  servitude, 
the  whole  period  of  gestation  was  taken  into  view,  by  the 
Roman  jurists ;  and  if  at  any  time  between  conception  and 
birth  the  mother  had  been  for  one  instant  free,  the  law,  by 
a  humane  fiction,  supposed  the  birth  to  have  taken  place 
then,  and  held  the  infant  to  be  free  born.*  For  fixing  the 
ownership  of  a  child,  the  date  of  the  birth  was  alone  re- 
garded ;  and  the  father  of  a  natural  child,  by  his  bond- 
woman, was  the  master  of  his  offspring,  as  much  as  of  any 
other  of  his  slaves. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  an  investigation  of  the  condition 
of  the  Roman  slaves,  first  as  it  was  in  law,  and  secondly  as 
it  was  in  fact. 

Slavery  is  defined  in  the  Codex  Just.,  as  that  by  which 
one  man  is  made  subject  to  another,  according  to  the  law 
of  nations,  though  contra  naturam,  contrary  to  natural  right. 
"  Manumission  took  its  rise  from  the  law  of  nations,  for  all 
men  by  the  law  of  nature  are  born  in  freedom  ;  nor  was 
manumission  heard  of,  while  servitude  was  unknown." 
"  All  slaves  are  in  the  power  of  their  masters,  which  power 
is  derived  from  the  law  of  nations ;  for  it  is  equally  observ- 
able among  all  nations,  that  masters  have  had  the  power  of 

"  Quia  non  debet  calamitas  matris  ei  nocere,  qui  iu  ventre  est." 
Lib.  I.  Tit.  4,  De  Ingen. 

8* 


90  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

life  and  death   over  their  slaves ;  and  that  whatsoever  is 
acquired  by  the  slave,  is  acquired  for  the  master."     "  Ser- 
vile  relations  are  an  impediment  to  matrimony,  as  when  a 
father  and  daughter,  or  a  brother  and  sister,  are  manumit- 
ted."   "  The  manumission  does  not  change  his  state,  because 
he  had,  before  manumission,  no  state  or  civil  condition." 
"  Whatever  our  slaves  have  at  any  time  acquired,  whether 
by   delivery,    stipulation,   donation,  bequest,  or  any   other 
means,  the  same  is  reputed  to  be  acquired  by  ourselves,  for 
he  who  is  a  slave  can  have  no  property.     And  if  a  slave  is 
instituted  an  heir,  he  cannot  otherwise  take  upon  himself 
the  inheritance,  than  at  the  command  of  his  master.     Mas- 
ters acquire  by  their  slaves,  not  only  the  property  of  things, 
but  also  the  possession."     "  Those  persons  are  allowed  to 
be  good  witnesses,  who  are  themselves  legally  capable  of 
taking  by  testament ;  but  yet  no  woman,  slave,  interdicted 
prodigal,  no  person  under  puberty,  etc.,  can  be  admitted  a 
witness  to  a  testament."     "  An  injury  is  never  understood 
to  be  done  to  the  slave  ;  but  it  is  reputed  to  be  done  to  the 
master,  through  the  person  of  his  slave.     If  a  man  should 
only  give  ill  language  to  a  slave,  or  strike  him  with  his  fist, 
the  master  can  bring  no  action  on  that  account ;  if  a  stran- 
ger should  beat  the  slave  of  another  in  a  cruel  manner,  it  is 
actionable."    "  Inter  servos  et  liberos  matrimonium  contrahi 
non  potest ;  contubernium  potest."     "  A  fugitive  slave,  who 
is  retaken,  cannot  be  manumitted  in  ten  years,  contrary  to 
the  will  of  his  former  master."     Under  the  alarm  of  great 
public  danger,  and  during  civil  wars,  slaves  were  occasion- 
ally taken  into  the  ranks  of  the  army,  but  they  were  not 
enlisted  before  being  emancipated.* 


*  "  Octo  millia  juvenum  validorum  ex  seiTitiis,  prius  sciscitantes 


KOMAN    SLAVERY.  91 

The  system  of  Roman  polytheism  was,  at  all  times,  ex- 
ceedingly tolerant.  During  the  Empire,  the  introduction  of 
foreign  divinities  and  rites  became  fashionable.  The  ser- 
vile classes  followed  any  religion  which  they  pleased.  Rus- 
tic masters  and  their  slaves  sometimes  united  in  offering  up 
sacrifices  to  the  gods.  Slaves  were  permitted  to  make 
offerings  to  Venus.  They  were  not  specially  excluded  in 
later  times  from  the  great  religious  solemnities,  except  the 
Megalesian  plays  in  honor  of  Cybele.  Public  slaves  were 
employed  about  temples.  Female  slaves  were  suffered  to 
participate  in  some  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea.  Her- 
cules was  the  tutelar  divinity  of  slaves,  and  Juno  Feronia 
presided  over  their  manumission.  Public  holidays,  in  all 
amounting  to  about  thirty  in  a  year,  during  the  existence  of 
paganism,  were  observed  by  slaves  as  well  as  freemen, 
with  partial  cessation  from  labor.  The  customary  rights  of 
burial  were  not  denied  to  slaves.  Monuments  were  often 
erected  to  their  memory,  as  is  proved  incontestably  by  the 
numerous  inscriptions,  preserved  in  Gruter  and  elsewhere. 
Slaves  were,  at  all  times,  permitted  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  temporary  protection  of  sanctuaries.  These  were  the 
temples  and  altars  of  the  gods,  afterwards  the  palace  artd 
images  of  the  emperors,  and  still  later  Christian  churches 
and  shrines.  It  was  lawful  for  any  person  to  be  the  propri- 
etor of  slaves ;  even  a  slave  might  hold  others  of  his  own 
class,  and  act  as  their  master  to  all  intents  ;  but  still,  those 
slaves  were,  as  fully  as  the  rest  of  his  pecuKum.,  subject  to 
the  superior  rights  of  his  free  lord. 

singulos,  vellentne  militare,  empta  publice  armaverunt."  —  Liv.  XXII. 
57.  "  Ex  hoc  edicto  dati  nautse,  armati  instructique  ab  dominis,"  etc. — 
Liv.  XXIV.  11,17.  "  Servi,  quibus  arma  darentur,  ita  ut  pretium  pro 
iis  bello  perfect©  dominis  solveretur,  emebantur."  —  Liv.  XXXIV.  6. 


92  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

The  customary  allowance  of  food  for  each  slave  was, 
probably,  four  Roman  bushels  [modius,  one  peck  English) 
of  manufactured  corn  a  month  ;  monthly  supplies  being  fur- 
nished to  the  upper  slaves  in  the  country,  and  daily  rations 
to  those  in  the  city.  Gladiators  were  proverbially  well 
fed  ("  paratos  cibos,  ut  gladiatoriam  saginam,"  etc.  Tac. 
Hist.  II.  88).  Salt  and  oil  were  commonly  allowed,  and 
occasionally  vinegar,  and  salt  fish,  olives,  etc.  They  had 
daily  what  was  about  an  English  pint  and  a  half  of  wine. 
Posca,  a  mixture  of  vinegar  and  water,  was  given  to  slaves, 
as  well  as  to  soldiers.  Slaves  near  town  procured  for  them- 
selves other  necessaries,  and  even  luxuries. 

Male  slaves  were  not  permitted  by  law  to  wear  the  toga^ 
gown,  hiUa,  ball,  or  the  gold  ring,  which  were  the  badges 
of  citizenship  ;  nor  were  female  slaves  suffered  to  assume 
the  stola,  the  robe  of  free  and  modest  matrons.  The  cap, 
pileus,  as  an  emblem  of  liberty,  was  probably  a  forbidden 
piece  of  dress.  Thus  we  read  :  "  Servi  ad  pileum  vocati." 
In  most  other  respects,  they  were  attired  as  their  masters 
pleased,  till  the  reign  of  Alexander  Severus,  who  appointed 
a  certain  garb  for  the  servile  classes.  It  had  been  proposed, 
at' a  much  earlier  period,  to  clothe  slaves  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner, but  the  project  was  abandoned  from  dread  of  showing 
to  the  slaves  the  superiority  of  their  numbers* 

The  laborers  on  a  farm  were  shut  up  at  night  in  a  build- 
ing called  a  work-house,  ergastulum,  but  which  rather  re- 
sembled a  prison.     Each  slave  had  a  separate  cell.t     Some 

*  "  Quantum  periculum  immineret,  si  servi  nostri  numerare  nos  coe- 
pissent."  —  Sen.  cle  Clem.  I.  24.  "  Gallite  purpuras  tingendae  causa  ad 
servitiorum  vestes."  —  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  XVI.  31. 

t  "Nuraerus  illi  quotidie  servorum,  velut  imperatori  exercitus, 
referebatur ;  cui  jamdudum  divitiae  esse  debuerant  duo  vicarii  et  cella 
laxior."  —  Sen.  de.  Tranquil.  An.  VIII. 


ROMAN   SLAVERY.  93 

masters  allowed  well-disposed  slaves  to  be  better  lodged 
than  others.*  Suetonius  informs  us,  that  it  had  become  so 
common  to  expose  sick  slaves  on  the  isle  of  ^sculapius  in 
the  Tiber,  that  Claudius  enacted  a  law  to  prevent  the  bar- 
barity.t  No  authoritative  regulations  seem  ever  to  have 
been  adopted,  for  limiting  the  forced  labor  of  slaves  within 
due  bounds.  Agricultural  laborers  were  probably  made  to 
undergo  great  fatigues.  Considerable  abatement  of  toil  was 
made  in  favor  of  female  slaves,  particularly  such  as  had 
borne  three  or  more  children. 

Masters  were  often  at  great  pains  to  teach  their  slaves 
various  exercises,  trades,  arts,  and  accomplishments  ;  |  and 
even  employed  hired  instructors  for  this  purpose.  We 
have  little  reason,  however,  to  think  that  the  servile  classes 
generally  received  any  education,  in  the  most  limited  sense 
of  the  term.  There  was,  apparently,  no  benefit  to  accrue 
to  the  master  from  his  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water  being  able  to  read  and  write.  The  obedience  of 
slaves  was  enforced  by  severe  discipline.  The  masters 
availed  themselves  of  the  latitude  of  the  law  in  this  respect 
to  the  utmost  extent.  A  blow  with  the  hand  wa^  a  very 
ready  discipline.  ^     The   lash   and   rod  were  in  frequent 

*  "  Reliqua  pars  lateris  hujus  servorum  libertorumque  usibus  deti- 
netur,  plerisque  tarn  mundis,  ut  accipere  hospites  possint."  —  Plin. 
Ep.  II.  17. 

t  "  Omnes,  qui  exponerentur,  liberos  esse  sanxit,  nee  redire  in  ditio- 
nem  domini,  si  convaluissent."  —  Suet.  Vit.  Claud.  XXV. 
t  "Literulis  Grascis  imbutus,  idoneus  arti 
Cuilibet."  —  Hor.  Ep.  Lib.  II.  ii.  7. 
Donatus  says,  that  Virgil  was  very  partial  to  two  slaves :  "  Utrumque 
non  ineruditum  dimisit,  —  Alexandrum  grammaticum,  Cebetem  vero 
et  poetam." 

§  "Nos  colaphum  incutimus  lambenti  crustulo  servo."  — Juv.  IX.  5. 


94  •  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

use.*  If  a  slave  spoke  or  coughed  at  a  forbidden  time,  he 
was  flogged  by  a  very  severe  master.t  The  toilet  of  a 
lady  of  fashion  was  a  terrible  ordecil  for  a  slave.  A  stray 
curl  was  an  inexorable  offence,  and  the  slave's  back  was 
punished  for  the  faults  of  the  mirror.|  Whips  and  thongs 
were  not  the  most  dreadful  instruments  of  punishment. 
Burning  alive  is  mentioned  as  a  punishment  in  the  Pandects 
and  elsewhere.  TertuUian  says  it  was  first  used  for  slaves 
alone. §  Vine  saplings  as  instruments  of  punishment  were 
least  dishonorable  ;  next  to  them  rods,  fustes  or  rirgcB  ;  then 
thongs,  lora  ;  scourges,  Jlagella  or  fiagra,  sometimes  load- 
ed with  lead,  plumbata.  Chain  scourges  were  used,  with 
weights  at  the  end,  all  of  bronze  or  tin.  The  equideus  was 
a  terrible  instrument  of  torture.  Dislocation  was  one  of  its 
effects.  II  There  were  also  the  Jidiculce,  lyre-strings,  the 
ungula  and  forceps,  etc.  A  slave  taken  among  soldiers 
was  cast  from  the  Capitoline  rock,  having  been  first  manu- 
mitted, that  he  might  be  worthy  of  that  punishment.^  As 
slaves  could  not  testify  on  the  rack  against  their  own  master, 
they  were  sold  to  others,  and  thus  qualified  to  testify.** 

*  "  Vox  domini  furit  instantis  virgamque  tenentis."  —  Juv.  XIV.  63. 
t  "  Et  ne  fortuita  quidem  verberibus  excepta  sunt,  tussis,  sternuta- 
tnentum,  singultus,"  etc.  —  Sen.  Ep.  XL VII. 

J  "  Unus  de  toto  peccaverat  orbe  comarum 
Annulus,  incerta  non  bene  fixus  acu. 
Hoc  facinus  Lalage  speculo,  quo  viderat,  ulta  est  y 
Et  cecidit  sectis  icta  Plecusa  comis."  —  3Icrt.  Lib.  II.  Ep.  66. 
§  "  Sed  de  patibulo  et  vivi  comburio  per  omne  ingenium  crudelitatis 
exhauriat."  —  Ter-t.  de  Anima,  I. 
II  Seneca,  Ep.  XIX. 

IT  Dio  Cassius,  I.  48,  Han.  ed.  p.  337.     1606. 
**  Id.  LV.  357.     Juvenal  has  this  : 

"  Turn  felix,  quoties  aliquis  tortore  vocato 
Uritur  ardenti  duo  propter  lintea  ferro. 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  95 

Cruel  masters  sometimes  hired  torturers  by  profession,  or 
had  such  persons  in  their  estabHshments,  to  assist  them  in 
punishing  their  slaves,  or  in  extorting  confessions  from  them, 
and  many  horrible  torments  were  employed  for  those  pur- 
poses.* The  noses,  ears,  teeth,  or  even  eyes  were  in  great 
danger  from  an  enraged  master. t  Crucifixion  was  fre- 
quently made  the  fate  of  a  wretched  slave,  for  trifling  mis- 
conduct, or  for  mere  caprice.  |  Cato,  the  Censor,  used  after 
supper  to  seize  a  thong,  and  flog  such  of  his  slaves  as  had 
not  attended  properly,  or  had  dressed  any  dish  ill.  Insult- 
ing appellations  were  given  to  slaves  who  had  been  often 
subjected  to  punishment.  One  who  had  frequently  been 
beaten  was  called  mastigia,  or  verbero  ;  he  who  had  been 
branded  was  termed  stigmatias,  or  stigmatius,  oxinscripius, 
or  literatus,  and  he  who  had  borne  the  furca  was  named 
furcifer.  No  distinction  whatever  seems  to  have  been  main- 
tained between  the  modes  of  punishing  male  and  female 
slaves.  The  laws,  which  abolished  the  master's  power  of 
life  and  death,  appear  to  have  been  obeyed  with  great  reluc- 

Quid  suadet  juveni  Itetus  stridore  catenae, 
Quern  mire  afficiunt  inscripta  ergastula,  career 
Rusticus?"— XIV.  21. 
*  "  —  sunt,  quae  tortoribus  annua  priestent."  —  Juv.  VI.  480. 
t  "  Trunci  naribus  auribusque  vultus."  —  il/art.  II  8.3.     "Peccantis 
famuli  pugno  ne  percute  denies."  —  Id.  XIV.  68. 

X  "  Pone  crucem  servo  ;  meruit  quo  crimine  servus 

Supplicium  "?  Quis  testis  adest  ?  Quis  detuliti  Audi. 
Nulla  unquam  de  morte  hominis  cunctatio  longa  est. 
0  demens,  ita  servus  homo  est  1    Nil  fecerit,  esto  ; 
Hoc  volo,  sic  jubeo,  sit  pro  ratione  voluntas."  —  Juv.  VI.  218. 
The  following  law  was  passed  A.  C.  58.     "  Si  quis  a  suis  servis  inter- 
fectus  esset,  ii  quoque,  qui  testamento  manumissi  sub  eodem  tecto 
mansissent,  inter  servos  supplicia  penderent."  —  Tac.  Ann.  XIII.  32. 


96  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

tance,  and  frequently  virtually  defeated  by  an  increase  in 
the  amount  of  an  inferior  punishment. 

Slaves  had  various  rewards  for  good  conduct  held  out  to 
them  by  their  masters.  The  chief  of  these  were  manumis- 
sion, or  promotion  to  a  better  situation  in  their  owner's  ser- 
vice, as  to  the  place  of  steward,  or  superintendent.  They 
were  sometimes  allowed  to  keep  a  share  of  the  profits  of 
their  business,  or  money  was  given  them  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  special  services.  Slaves  had  generally  a  separate 
fund  called  peculium,  though  this  was  strictly  the  property 
of  the  master.  At  the  Saturnalia,  slaves  were  treated  like 
masters,  feasting  at  their  owner's  tables,  having  license  to 
say  what  they  pleased  without  fear  of  chastisement.  Their 
other  principal  holidays  were  the  Matronalia,  in  March, 
Populifugia,  7th  of  July,  and  Compelalia,  7th  of  May.* 

*  The  writings  of  M.  Seneca  are  full  of  tender  sympathy  and  of  ex- 
alted sentiments  in  behalf  of  slaves.  "  Servis,''  he  says,  "  iraperare 
moderate,  laus  est ;  et  in  mancipio  cogitandum  est,  non  quantum  illud 
impune  pati  possit,  sed  quantum  tibi  permittat  sequi  bonique  natura." 
In  the  same  place,  the  conduct  of  Vedius  PoUio,  who  fed  his  fish  with 
the  flesh  of  his  slaves,  is  reprobated  in  the  severest  manner.  —  De  Clem. 
I.  18.  In  the  essay  De  Beneficiis,  I.  iii.  Cap.  19,  20,  21,  etc.,  many 
instances  are  recorded  of  grateful  conduct  on  the  part  of  slaves.  "  Er- 
rat,  si  quis  existimat  servitutem  in  totum  hominem  descendere  ;  pars 
melior  ejus  excepta  est.  Corpora  obnoxia  sunt,  et  adscripta  dominis  ; 
mens  quidem  sui  juris ;  qu£e  adeo  libera  et  vaga  est,  ut  ne  ab  hoc 
quidem  carcere  cui  inclusa  est,  teneri  queat."  One  of  the  examples 
quoted  is  where  the  servant  of  C.  Vettius,  "ejus  gladium  militi  ipsi,  a 
quo  trahebatur,  eduxit,  et  primum  dominum  occidit;  deinde,  Tempus 
est,  inquit,  me  et  mihi  consulere,  jam  dominum  mannmisi ;  atque  ita  se  uno 
ictu  transjecit"  (Cap.  23).  In  the  civil  wars  another  slave  habited  him- 
self like  his  master,  and  was  slain,  while  his  master  escaped.  A  third, 
by  wise  counsel,  saved  the  life  of  his  master,  who  had  spoken  treason- 
able things  against  Caesar.     The  47th  epistle  is  taken  up  in  describing 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  97 

The  proportion  between  the  sexes  of  the  slaves,  has  not 
been  ascertained.  There  were  few  female  agriculturists, 
and  the  men  who  lived  in  ergastula  would  rarely  have  wives. 
Women  alone  were  employed  in  spinning ;  but  men  were, 
as  often  as  they,  engaged  in  weaving.  The  sepulchre  of 
the  freedmen  and  slaves  of  Livia,  the  daughter  of  Augustus, 
as  described  by  Gori,  has  150  female  names  to  400  names 
of  men. 

On  the  whole,  we  may  regard  the  condition  of  the  slaves 
in  the  later  days  of  the  Republic,  and  during  the  Empire  pre- 
viously to  the  reign  of  Constantino,  as  one  of  great  hardship. 
Their  lot  was  dependent  on  the  disposition  of  particular 
masters,  not  on  the  laws,  nor  on  a  humane  and  enlightened 
public  opinion.  On  a  cursory  reading  of  the  classical  au- 
thors, we  may  form  the  opinion  that  slaves  in  general  enjoyed 
great  liberties.  But  we  must  recollect  that  the  authors  in 
question  were  conversant  mainly  with  the  verncB,  with  the 
house  slaves,  with  the  smart,  precocious  slaves,  children 
brought  from  Alexandria,  with  the  educated  slaves,  etc. 
The  groans  from  the  ergastula  do  not  reach  our  ears.  We 
cannot  gather  up  the  tears  which  were  shed  on  the  Appian 

what  the  treatment  of  slaves  ought  to  be.  Unhappily,  he  furnishes  evi- 
dence enough  that  his  compassionate  advice  was  but  little  heeded.  After 
saying  that  he  will  pass  over  the  instances  of  inhuman  men,  who  treated 
their  slaves  more  cruelly  than  beasts,  he  says :  "  Alius  vini  minister 
in  muliebrem  modum  ornatus,  cum  setate  luctatur.  Non  potest  effugere 
pueritiam,  sed  retrahitur.  Jamque  militari  habitu  glaber,  destrictis 
pilis,  aut  penitus  evulsis,  tota  nocte  pervigilat ;  quam  inter  ebrietatera 
domini  ac  libidinem  dividit,  et  in  cubiculo  vir,  et  in  convivio  puer  est." 
The  younger  Pliny  was  a  humane  master.  Dio  Cassius,  I.  47  of  his 
Roman.  Hist.,  mentions  three  slaves  in  the  time  of  Antony's  proscription, 
who  saved  their  masters  at  the  loss  of  their  own  lives.  One  of  them 
was  a  stigmaticus, 

VOL.    II.  9 


98  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

Way,  around  the  mausoleum  of  Augustus,  in  the  countless 
farms  of  Italy.  There  were  griefs  which  we  know  not  of, 
—  sorrows,  heart-rending  cruelties,  which  will  not  be  re- 
vealed till  the  day  of  doom.  Slaves  were  valued  only  so 
far  as  they  represented  money.  Hortensius  cared  less  for 
the  health  of  his  slaves  than  for  that  of  his  fish.  It  was  a 
question  put  for  ingenious  disputation,  whether,  in  order  to 
lighten  a  vessel  in  a  storm,  one  should  sacrifice  a  valuable 
horse  or  a  worthless  slave.  So  late  as  the  reign  of  Adrian,  we 
find  that  indications  of  insanity  were  not  uncommon  among 
slaves,  which  must  generally  be  attributed  to  their  misery. 

The  slaves  not  unfrequently  rose  in  rebellion  against  their 
masters.  At  one  time,  A.  C.  458,  Appius  Herdonius  sum- 
moned the  slaves  from  the  Capitol  with  the  inspiring  words, 
"  Se  miserrimi  cujusque  suscepisse  causam,  ut  servitiis  grave 
jugum  demeret."  In  the  city  the  terror  was  extreme,  as  no 
one  knew  whom  to  trust.  His  foes  were  they  of  his  own 
household.  A  little  later,  A.  C.  415,  (Livy,  IV.  45,)  it  was 
announced  that  "  Servitia,  urbem  ut  incenderent  distantibus 
locis,  conjurarunt."  At  another  time,  A.  C.  271,  (Livy,  XXII. 
33,)  twenty-five  slaves  were  affixed  to  the  cross,  because 
they  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  in  the  Campus  Martius. 
Etruria,  A.  C.  196,  (Livy,  XXXIII.  36,)  was  threatened  with 
a  fearful  insurrection.  The  mournful  result  was,  "  Multi 
occisi,  multi  capti,  alios  verberatos  crucibus  affixit,  qui  prin- 
cipes  conjurationis  fuerant;  alios  dominis  restituit."  Again, 
A.  C.  184,  (Livy,  XXXIX.  29,)  we  read,  "  Magnus  motus 
servilis  eo  anno  in  Apulia  fuit."  Seven  thousand  men  were 
condemned.  In  the  brief  language  of  the  historian,  "  de 
multis  sumptum  est  supplicium," 

In  A.  C.  135,  an  insurrection  of  the  slaves  in  Sicily  hap- 
pened, which,  says  Diodorus,  was  the  most  dreadful  which 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  99 

ever  occurred.  Many  towns  were  plundered  ;  multitudes 
of  persons  of  both  sexes  (dvapidfirjToi)  were  visited  with  the 
direst  calamities,  and  the  slaves  gained  possession  of  almost 
the  whole  island.  The  insurgents  under  Eunus  amounted 
to  70,000  men,  of  whom  20,000  are  said  to  have  fallen  in 
the  last  defeat ;  and  the  rest  to  have  been  taken  and  cruci- 
fied ;  but  they  had  kept  the  field  for  six  years,  in  the  face  of 
considerable  forces. 

In  Italy  there  were  vast  numbers  of  slaves,  and  frequent 
and  dangerous  commotions.  The  first  happened  at  Nuce- 
ria,  where  thirty  slaves  were  taken  and  executed.  In  the 
second  insurrection  at  Capua,  200  slaves  rebelled ;  they 
were  immediately  destroyed.  The  third  took  place  in  con- 
sequence of  the  disgraceful  conduct  of  a  rich  Roman,  Titus 
Minutius  by  name.  Having  proclaimed  himself  king,  3,500 
slaves  flocked  to  his  standard.  Lucius  Lucullus  was  charged 
with  the  business  of  dealing  with  the  insurgents.  Minutius, 
having  been  betrayed,  killed  himself,  and  his  associates 
perished.  This  was,  however,  but  a  prelude  to  greater 
troubles  in  Sicily.  The  Senate  having  passed  a  decree  that 
no  freed  man  among  the  allies  of  the  Roman  people  should  be 
reduced  to  slavery,  more  than  800  in  Sicily,  who  had  been 
unlawfully  deprived  of  freedom,  were  liberated.  This  ex- 
cited the  hopes  of  the  slaves  throughout  the  island.  Re- 
monstrances having  been  made  to  the  praetor,  he  ordered 
those  who  had  assembled  about  him,  for  the  purpose  of 
recovering  their  liberty,  to  return  to  their  masters.  This 
was  the  signal  for  a  general  insurrection.  The  insurgents, 
having  strongly  fortified  themselves,  bade  defiance  to  the 
efforts  of  the  praetor.  A  certain  Titinius,  an  outlaw,  was 
their  leader.  He  having  at  length  proved  treacherous  to  his 
cause,  the  designs  of  the  conspirators  were  crushed.     Soon, 


100  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

however,  the  tumult  broke  out  afresh,  and  Titinius,  who 
was  sent  by  the  praetor  against  the  slaves,  was  worsted. 
Their  number  increased  in  a  few  days  to  more  than  6,000. 
Having  chosen  a  certain  Salvius  leader,  they  ravaged  va- 
rious parts  of  the  island.  In  a  battle  with  the  Romans, 
Salvius  took  4,000  prisoners.  The  whole  island  was  soon  in 
a  sad  condition.  Salvius  collected  an  army  of  30,000  men, 
and  assumed  all  the  ensigns  of  royalty.  In  this  manner 
the  war  was  protracted  for  several  years,  and  the  disturb- 
ances were  not  fully  quelled  till  after  the  most  vigorous  and 
persevering  exertions  of  the  Roman  army.* 

The  famous  servile  war  in  Italy,  which  occurred  in  the 
time  of  Crassus  and  Pompey,  lasted  nearly  three  years,  and 
was  not  brought  to  a  close  without  the  greatest  difficulty.  It 
seems  that  the  slaves  lost  105,000  men,  exclusive  of  those 
who  fell  in  their  victories  over  Lentulus,  and  other  gen- 
erals ;  besides,  after  their  main  overthrow  by  Crassus,  a 
body  of  5,000  men  were  vanquished  by  Pompey. 

In  A.  D.  24,  T.  Curtisius,  a  soldier  of  the  pretorian  cohort, 
at  Brundusium  in  Italy,  and  the  neighboring  towns,  fixed 
placards  on  conspicuous  places,  in  which  he  called  on  the 
slaves  to  assert  their  rights.  His  designs  were,  however, 
soon  crushed,  by  the  unexpected  appearance  of  a  fleet, 
Cinna,  Marius,  Catiline,  and  the  barbarian  invaders  of  Italy, 
augmented  their  forces  by  promising  general  freedom  to 
the  slaves.t 

*  We  have  drawn  the  preceding  facts  about  the  servile  war  from 
Diodorus  Siculus,  Lib.  XXXVI.,  where  a  detailed  and  impartial  state- 
ment may  be  seen.     This  second  rebellion  in  Sicily  lasted  thi-ee  years. 

t  Pint.  Vit.  C.  Marius  ;  Cicero  in  Cat.  IV.  2 ;  Sallust,  Cat.  56.  "  Servi 
te  reliquerunt.  Alium  compilaverunt,  alium  accusaverunt,  alium  oc- 
ciderunt,  alium  prodiderunt,  alium  calcaverunt,  alium  veneno,  alium 
criminatione,  petierunt."  —  Seneca,  Ep.  CVII. 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  101 

Besides  the  political  troubles  to  which  we  have  alluded, 
slavery  was  the  fruitful  cause  of  many  other  evils.  The 
slaves  were  much  addicted  to  lying,  which  Plutarch  calls  the 
vice  of  slaves.  They  were  so  great  thieves,  that  fur  was 
once  synonymous  with  slave.*  It  came  to  be  said  almost 
proverbially,  that  slaves  were  foes.t  Female  slaves  were 
exposed  to  so  many  seductions,  and  were,  at  the  same  time, 
guarded  by  so  few  better  influences,  that  we  cannot  wonder 
at  their  extremely  licentious  conduct.  Slavery  fearfully 
increased  dissoluteness  in  the  high  ranks  of  Romans,  idle- 
ness in  the  lower  ranks,  and  cruelty  in  both.  The  horrid 
butcheries  of  the  amphitheatre  are  a  sufficient  proof  of  the 
sanguinary  disposition  of  the  Romans.|  The  number  of 
foreign  slaves  imported  from  various  countries,  at  too  ad- 
vanced an  age  to  learn  the  language  of  their  lords,  must  have 
tended  greatly  to  corrupt  the  Latin  language. §  The  crowds 
of  slaves,  assembled  in  the  houses  of  the  rich,  were  the 
means  of  propagating  fatal  diseases,  which  frequently  rav- 
aged the  Roman  world. || 

*  "  Exilis  domus  est,  ubi  non  et  multa  supersunt, 
Et  dominiiiu  fallunt,  et  prosunt  furibus." 

Hor.  Ep.  Lib.  I.  vi.  45,  46. 
t  "  Totidem  esse  hostes,  quot  servos."  —  Sen.  Ep.  XLVII. 
X  "  Quam  hujus  amentiae  causam  detineam  nisi  fidei  imbecillitatem, 
pronam   semper  concupiscentiam  seculariura  gaudiorum  ? "  —  Tertul. 
ad  Uxorem,  Lib.  II.  Cap.  8.    Also  De  Spectac.  XXII. 

§  "  At  nunc  natus  infans  delegatur  gradcnlse,  ancillse,  cui  adjungitur 
unus  aut  alter  ex  omnibus  servis,  plerumque  vilissimus,  nee  cuiquam 
serio  ministerio  accommodatus."  —  Tac.  de  Cans.  Corrup.  XXIX. 

II  lu   Heyne's  Opuscula,  Vol.  III.  Prol.  7,  is  an  account  of  the 

various  pestes  which  desolated  Rome.    The  number  mentioned  is  33. 

The  sixth,  which   happened   A.  IT.    C  292,  cut  off  almost  all  the 

slaves,  and  nearly  one  half  of  the  free  population.    Liv.  XXXVI.  Dio- 

9* 


102  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  condition  of  the  Roman  world  in 
respect  to  slavery  when  our  Saviour  appeared.  Under  the 
first  Caesars,  domestic  servitude  had  reached  its  height  of 
enormity.  No  part  of  the  immense  empire  was  free  from 
the  evil.  The  Sicilian  dungeons  were  full.  Medians,  Moe- 
sians,  Bithynians,  were  driven  in  crowds  to  the  Roman 
metropolis.  Men-stealei's  were  on  the  alert  in  the  fastnesses 
of  the  African  Troglodytes.  The  voice  of  the  slave-auc- 
tioneer was  heard  early  and  late  at  Corinth  and  Delos. 
From  Britain  to  Parthia,  and  from  the  woods  of  Sweden  to 
the  great  African  desert,  the  cries  of  the  bondman  went  up 
to  Heaven.  In  Judea  alone,  there  seems  to  have  been 
some  alleviation  to  the  picture.  Yet  there  the  Romans 
doubtless  transported  their  slaves  as  an  indispensable  part 
of  their  domestic  arrangement.* 

In  the  Gospels,  there  is  no  marked  and  prominent  men- 
tion of  slavery,  though  the  allusions  and  incidental  notices 
are  not  unfrequent.  Thus  in  Matt.  viii.  9,  SovXos  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Roman  centurion  unquestionably  means  a  slave.  The 
military  slaves  of  the  Romans  were  the  armiger^  armor- 
bearer,  galearius,  helmet-bearer,  clavator,  club-bearer,  calo 
and  cacula,  soldier's  drudge.  In  Matt.  xiii.  27,  28,  perhaps 
it  is  the  most  natural  to  understand  dovXos  as  a  slave,  though 
a  higher  meaning  of  the  word  may  be  included.  Also  com- 
pare Matt.  vi.  24 ;  Luke  xvi.  13  ;  John  viii.  33  ;  xiii.  16  ;  xv. 
20.  The  punishment  of  the  cross,  which  was  inflicted  on 
slaves  and  the  lowest  malefactors,  was  introduced  among 

nys.  IX.  67.  In  the  one  which  occurred  A.  D.  69,  which  lasted  only  for 
an  autumn,  30,000  funerals  were  registered,  "  triginta  funerum  millia 
in  rationem  Libitinae  venenint."  —  Suet.  Vit.  Nero,  XXXIX. 

*  King  Agrippa  exhibited  at  one  time  in  Judea  700  pairs  of  gladia- 
tors, —  slaves.  —  Jos.  Hist.  XIX. 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  103 

the  Jews  by  the  Romans.  See  also  Acts  vii.  6.  In  Rom. 
vii.  14,  we  find  the  expression  •jreirpafievos  vno  afiapriav,  sold 
under  sin,  the  bond-slave  of  sin,  referring  to  the  general 
practice  of  selling  prisoners  of  war  as  slaves.  They  were 
considered  as  having  lost  their  title  to  freedom.  Corinth 
was  long  the  chief  slave-mart  of  Greece,  and,  from  its  situa- 
tion, was  likely  to  have  much  communication  with  Brundu- 
sium,  and  the  other  ports  on  the  eastern  side  of  Italy.  Ti- 
mseus,  perhaps  with  some  exaggeration,  asserts  that  Corinth 
had,  in  early  times,  before  Athens  had  reached  her  suprem- 
acy, 460,000  slaves.  They  were  distinguished  by  the  name 
chcenix-measurers.  Many  of  them  doubtless  embraced  the 
Gospel,  when  preached  by  Paul,  Apollos,  and  others.  From 
the  language  employed  by  Paul  in  describing  the  social 
condition  of  the  Corinthian  converts,*  as  well  as  from  the 
development  of  the  particular  vices  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  we  reasonably  infer  that  many  slaves  were  con- 
verted. In  1  Cor.  vii.  20-24  are  the  following  words: 
"  Let  every  man  abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he  was 
called.  Art  thou  called  being  a  servant  ?  care  not  for  it ; 
but  if  thou  mayest  be  made  free,  use  it  rather.  For  he  that 
is  called  in  the  Lord,  being  a  servant,  is  the  Loi'd's  free- 
man ;  likewise  also  he  that  is  called,  being  free,  is  Christ's 
servant.  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price  ;  be  not  ye  the  servants 
of  men.  Brethren,  let  every  man,  wherein  he  is  called, 
therein  abide  with  God."  The  meaning  of  this  passage 
clearly  is.  Be  not  unduly  solicitous  about  being  in  a  state  of 
bondage.     If  you  have  a  favorable  opportunity  for  gaining 

*  BXeTrere  yap  rfjv  /cX^crii/  vfiuiv,  a.8ek(poi,  on  ov  noXKoi  (ro(f)ol 
Kara  aapKa,  ov  ttoXXoI  twarol,  ov  ttoXXoI  evyeue^s.  1  Cor.  i.  26. 
Also  the  terms  fjiapd,  dadevrj,  dyfvrj,  e^ov6evr]peva,  to.  p-fj  ovra,  etc. 


104  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

your  freedom,  embrace  it ;  it  is  the  preferable  state  ;  never- 
theless, to  be  a  freeman  of  Christ  is  infinitely  more  impor- 
tant. Your  spiritual  redemption  is  purchased  at  a  great 
price  ;  yield  not  a  servile  assent  to  the  authority  and  opinions 
of  men.* 

Eph.  vi.  5-9,  "  Servants  !  be  obedient  to  them  that  are 
your  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling, 
in  singleness  of  your  heart,  as  unto  Christ ;  not  with  eye- 
service,  as  men-pleasers ;  but  as  the  servants  of  Christ, 
doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  heart ;  with  good-will  doing 
service,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to  men  ;  knowing  that  what- 
soever good  thing  any  man  doeth,  the  same  shall  he  receive 
of  the  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or  free.  And,  ye  masters ! 
do  the  same  things  unto  them,  forbearing  threatening : 
knowing  that  your  Master  also  is  in  heaven  ;  neither  is  there 
respect  of  persons  with  him."  That  slaves  are  here  referred 
to  is  unquestionable,  —  from  the  contrast,  in  v.  8,  between 
bovKos  and  eXev^epos.  Both  masters  and  slaves  are  charged 
to  perform  their  respective  duties  faithfully  and  kindly,  as 
accountable  alike  to  God.  Col.  iii.  22,  25,  and  iv.  1,  are  of 
similar  import.  Slaves  were  numerous  in  Colosse,  in  Eph- 
esus,  and  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  Asia  Minor.  A  prin- 
cipal fault  in  the  slaves  seems  to  have  been,  a  faithless  per- 
formance of  duty  in  the  absence  of  their  masters.  Col.  iv.  1 
prescribes  to  dUaiov  rfjv  laorrjTa,  kind  treatment,  such  as  is 

*  That  dovXos,  v.  22,  means  a  slave,  one  in  actual  bondage,  is  made 
altogether  certain  by  its  being  in  contrast  with  eXevdepos  yeveadai,  as 
well  as  by  the  whole  spirit  of  the  passage.  There  would  be  no  sense 
in  directing  hired  servants  to  change  their  condition,  if  they  could. 
After  XP^o^atj  v.  21,  understand  fXevdepia,  not  8ov\(la,  as  the  old  com- 
mentators think.  V.  23,  nfi^s  is  used  in  a  spiritual  sense,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  price  which  is  paid  for  human  freedom. 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  105 

becoming  Christian  masters.  That  it  cannot  mean  the  legal 
enfranchisement  of  the  slave  is  clear  ;  for  why,  in  that  case, 
were  any  directions  given  to  the  slaves,  if  the  relation  was 
not  to  continue  ?  1  Tim.  vi.  1,2,"  Let  as  many  servants 
as  are  under  the  yoke  count  their  own  masters  worthy  of 
all  honor,  that  the  name  of  God  and  his  doctrine  be  not 
blasphemed.  And  they  that  have  believing  masters,  let 
them  not  despise  them,  because  they  are  brethren  ;  but 
rather  do  them  service,  because  they  are  faithful  and  be- 
loved, partakers  of  the  benefit."  Then  follows,  v.  3-5, 
an  exhortation  to  Timothy  to  withdraw  himself  from  persons 
who  taught  a  contrary  doctrine,  and  who  were  employing 
themselves  in  useless  logomachies.  The  word  "  yoke,"  in 
1  Tim.  vi.  1,  denotes  a  servile  condition  ;  as  in  Lev.  xxvi.  13, 
"  I  have  broken  the  bands  of  your  yoke."  It  seems  that  the 
honor  of  the  Gospel  was  concerned  in  the  rendering,  on  the 
part  of  the  slave,  of  a  prompt  obedience  to  the  commands 
of  his  master.  Titus  ii.  4, 10,  is  of  kindred  meaning.  The 
vices  of  pilfering  and  petulance  are  particularly  mentioned. 
Crete  was  full  of  slaves  from  the  earliest  times  to  which 
history  carries  us. 

Onesimus,  the  subject  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  Philemon,  was 
the  slave  of  Philemon,  a  Colossian,  who  had  been  made  a 
Christian  through  the  ministry  of  Paul.  He  absconded  from 
his  master,  for  a  reason  which  is  not  fully  explained.  In  the 
course  of  his  flight  he  met  with  Paul  at  Rome,  by  whom  he 
was  converted,  and  ultimately  recommended  to  the  favor  of 
his  old  master.  It  may  be  observed  that  Paul  would,  under 
any  circumstances,  have  had  no  choice,  but  to  send  Onesi- 
mus to  his  master ;  the  detention  of  a  fugitive  slave  was 
considered  the  same  offence  as  theft,  and  would  no  doubt  in- 
cur liability  to  prosecution  for  damages.     Runaways  appre- 


106  KOMAN    SLAVERY. 

hended  and  unreclaimed  were  sold  by  order  of  the  prcefec- 
lus  vigilum,  if  not  liberated  by  the  Emperor,  In  later  times, 
a  runaway,  guiltless  of  other  offences,  was  not  punished  for 
the  sake  of  public  justice,  but  was  restored  to  his  owner. 

1  Pet.  ii.  18  :  "  Servants,  be  subject  to  your  masters  with 
all  fear ;  not  only  to  the  good  and  gentle,  but  also  to  the 
froward."  The  word  otKeVat  is  here  employed.  This  word 
denotes  any  one  under  the  authority  of  another,  particularly 
household  servants,  vernce,familia,  domestici,faimdi.  It  is 
used  but  four  times  in  the  New  Testament :  in  this  passage  ; 
in  Luke  xvi.  13 ;  Acts  x.  7  ;  Rom.  xiv,  4.  In  all  these 
passages,  the  presumption  is  that  slaves  are  intended,  as 
they  almost  universally  performed  the  duties  which  are  now 
performed  by  hired  servants.  The  dpbpaTroBia-TTjs,  the  slave- 
trader,  is  classed,  1  Tim.  i.  10,  with  the  most  abandoned 
sinners.  Slave-dealing  was  not  esteemed  an  honorable 
occupation,  or  worthy  of  merchants,  by  the  Romans  ;  *  and 
those  who  followed  it,  mangores,  venalitiarii,  sometimes 
gave  themselves  an  air  of  much  consequence,  trusting  to 
their  wealth,  and  the  means  of  gratifying  competition  for 
the  abominable  though  precious  objects  of  their  traffic. t 

Though  the  Christian  religion  did  not  by  direct  precept 
put  an  end  to  the  iron  servitude  which  prevailed  in  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  yet  its  whole  spirit  and  genius  are  adverse  to 
slavery,  and  it  was  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  causes, 
which  were  set  in  operation,  and  which  finally  extinguished 


*  "  Mercator  urbibus  prodest,  medicus  regris,  mango  venalibus ;  sed 
omnes  isti,  quia  ad  alienum  commodum  pro  suo  veniunt,  non  obligant 
eos  quibus  prosnnt." — Sen.  de  Bene/.  IV.  13.  "Radix  est  bulbacea, 
mangonicis  venalitiis  pulchre  nota,  quae  e  vino  dulci  illita  pubertatem 
coercet."  —  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  XXI.  97,  and  XXXII.  47. 

t  See  Suet.  Aug.  69;  Macrob.  Saturn,  II.  4;  Pliny,  LXXI.  12; 
Mart.  VIII.  13. 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  107 

the  system  throughout  fiurope.  1.  It  raised  the  worth  of 
the  human  mind.  It  fully  established  its  dignity  and  im- 
mortality. It  poured  a  new  light  on  the  murderous  arena^ 
and  on  all  the  horrid  forms  of  destroying  life  which  pre- 
vailed. 2.  It  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  universal  love.  It 
placed  charity,  kindness,  and  compassion  among  the  cardi- 
nal virtues  ;  and  took  away  from  a  man  all  hope  of  salvation, 
unless  he  forgave  heartily  all  who  might  have  injured  him. 
3.  It  proclaimed  a  common  Redeemer  for  the  whole  human 
race.  It  declared  that  in  Christ,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond 
and  free  were  on  an  entire  equality.  4.  It  taught  men  the 
value  of  time,  made  them  industrious,  temperate,  and  fru- 
gal, and  thus  took  away  the  supposed  necessity  for  servile 
labor.  5.  It  commanded  all  its  disciples  to  engage  person- 
ally in  the  great  work  of  propagating  the  religion  among  all 
nations.  This  very  enterprise  of  course  embraced  the  mil- 
lions of  slaves. 

We  are  now  prepared  briefly  to  consider  the  influence 
which  Christianity  exerted  in  the  mitigation  and  final  ex- 
tinction of  slavery.  One  of  the  Apostolical  Canons  is  in 
the  following  words  :  "  Servi  in  clerum  non  promoveantur 
citra  dominorum  voluntate  ;  hoc  ipsum  operatur  redhibitio- 
nem.  Si  quando  vero  servus  quoque  gradu  ecclesiasti- 
co  dignus  videatur,  qualis  noster  Onesimus  apparuit,  et 
domini  consenserint,  manuque  emiserint,  et  domo  sua  ab- 
legaverint;  efficitor."  In  chap.  2  of  the  Epistle  of  Igna- 
tius of  Antioch  to  Polycarp  of  Smyrna  is  the  following : 
"  Overlook  not  the  men  and  maid  servants  ;  neither  let  them 
be  puffed  up  ;  but  rather  let  them  be  the  more  subject  to 
the  glory  of  God,  that  they  may  obtain  from  him  a  better 
liberation.  Let  them  not  desire  to  be  set  free  at  the  public 
cost,  that  they  be  not  slaves  to  their  own  lusts."     In  the 


108  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

general  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  chap.  xiv.  ver.  15,  "  Thou  shalt 
not  be  bitter  in  thy  commands  towards  any  of  thy  servants 
that  trust  in  God  ;  lest  thou  chance  not  to  fear  him  who  is 
over  both ;  because  he  came  not  to  call  any  with  respect  of 
persons,  but  whomsoever  the  Spirit  prepared." 

A  warm  sympathy  was  felt,  it  seems,  by  many  of  the 
primitive  Christians,  in  behalf  of  the  slaves.  Clemens,  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  remarks  :  "  We  have  known 
many  among  ourselves,  who  have  delivered  themselves  into 
bonds  and  slavery,  that  they  might  restore  others  to  their 
liberty ;  many,  who  have  hired  out  themselves  servants  unto 
others,  that  by  their  wages  they  might  feed  and  sustain 
them  that  wanted."  Paulinus,  Bishop  of  Nola,  expended 
his  whole  estate,  and  then  sold  himself,  in  order  to  accom- 
plish the  same  object.  Serapion  sold  himself  to  a  stage- 
player,  and  was  the  means  of  converting  him  and  his 
family.  Ambrose  (Off.  I.  2)  enjoins  that  great  care  should 
be  taken  of  those  in  bondage.  Cyprian  (Ep.  LX.)  sent  to 
the  Bishop  of  Numidia,  in  order  to  redeem  some  captives, 
2,500  crowns.  Socrates,  the  historian,  says,  that  after  the 
Romans  had  taken  7,000  Persian  captives,  Acacius,  Bishop 
of  Amida,  melted  the  gold  and  silver  plate  of  his  church, 
with  which  he  redeemed  the  captives.  Ambrose  of  Milan 
did  the  same  in  respect  to  the  furniture  of  his  church.  It 
was  the  only  case  in  which  the  imperial  constitutions  allowed 
plate  to  be  sold. 

During  the  early  persecutions,  reduction  to  slavery,  in  a 
very  horrid  form,  was  employed  as  a  punishment  for  the 
embracing  of  the  faith.  Female  Christians  were  often  con- 
demned to  be  given  up  as  slaves  to  the  keepers  of  public 
brothels  in  Rome,  in  order  to  be  subjected  to  open  pi'ostitu- 
tion.     Such  was  the  fate  of  Agnes,  of  whom  Ambrose  thus 


ROMAN    SLAVERY.  109 

speaks  :  "  Insanus  judex  jusslt  earn  expoliari,  et  nudam  ad 
lupanar  duci,  sub  voce  prseconis  dicentis,  Agnem  sacrilegam 
virginem  Diis  blasphemia  inferentem  scortum  lupanaribus 
doctum."  *  Her  offence  was  her  refusal  to  worship  Vesta. 
Lactantius  has  the  remark,  that,  if  any  slave  became  a 
Christian,  all  hope  of  freedom  was  taken  away. 

These  severe  enactments  were  in  some  measure  neutral- 
ized by  the  compassionate  treatment  of  the  Church.  After 
the  establishment  of  Christianity,  under  Constantine,  slaves 
partook  of  all  the  ordinances  of  religion  ;t  and  their  birth 
was  no  impediment  to  their  rising  to  the  highest  dignities  of 
the  priesthood.  Slaves  holding  the  true  faith  were  some- 
times taken  into  the  service  of  the  Church.  |  At  first,  in- 
deed, it  was  required  that  a  slave  should  be  enfranchised 
before  ordination  ;  but  Justinian  declared  the  simple  con- 
sent of  the  master  to  be  sufficient.  If  a  slave  had  been 
ordained  without  his  master's  knowledge,  the  latter  might 
demand  him  within  a  year,  and  the  slave  fell  back  into  his 
master's  power.  If  a  slave,  after  ordination,  with  his  mas- 
ter's consent,  chose  to  renounce  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
and  returned  to  a  secular  life,  he  was  given  back  as  a  slave 
to  his  master.     It  was  common  for  the  patrons  of  churches, 

*  Ambr.  Serm.  TertuUian,  Apol.,  Cap.  L. :  "Nam  et  proxime  ad 
lenonem  damnando,  Christianum,  potius  quam  ad  leonem,"  etc  Au- 
gust, de  Civit.  Dei,  I.  26 :  ''  Sod  qujedam  sanctse  femina  tempore 
persecutionis,  ut  insectatores  su£e  pudicitiee  devitarent,  in  rapturum 
atque  necaturum  se  fluvium  projecerunt."  Lactantius  also  says,  Vol. 
II.  p.  214  :  "Fidelissimi  quique  servi  contra  dominos  vexabantur." 

t  Paul  mentions  slaves  having  been  baptzed,  1  Cor.  xii.  13,  circ 
SoOXoi,  eiVe  tXevOepoi  —  e^airTicrdrjijLeu,  etc. 

i  "  Quo  magis  necessarium  credidi,  ex  duabus  ancillis,  quce  viinistrce 
dicebantur,  quid  esset  veri,  et  per  tormenta  quserere."  —  Plin.  Ep.  X.  97. 
VOL.   II.  10 


110  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

till  the  fifth  century,  to  encourage  their  slaves  to  become 
clergymen,  that  they,  in  preference  to  strangers,  might  re- 
ceive their  benefices.  Slaves  were  fully  protected,  in  the 
exercise  of  worship,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  the  observ- 
ance of  religious  festivals.  The  liberty  and  gambols  of  the 
Saturnalia  were  transferred  to  Christmas.  If  a  Christian 
slave  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  heathen  master,  the  latter  was 
prohibited  from  interfering  with  his  spiritual  concerns,  Ju- 
daism was  looked  upon  with  such  horror,  that  any  Christian 
was  entitled  to  force  a  Jewish  master  to  sell  to  him  a  Chris- 
tian slave. 

Augustus  restrained  the  right  of  indiscriminate  and  un- 
limited manumission.  Antoninus  empowered  the  judge, 
who  should  be  satisfied  about  the  slave's  complaint  of  ill 
treatment,  to  force  the  master  to  sell  him  to  some  other 
owner.  The  master's  power  of  life  and  death  over  his 
slaves  was  first  sought  to  be  legally  abolished  by  Adrian 
and  Antoninus  Pius.  Constantino  placed  the  wilful  mur- 
der of  a  slave  on  a  level  with  that  of  a  freeman,  and  ex- 
pressly included  the  case  of  a  slave  who  died  under  pun- 
ishment, unless  it  was  inflicted  with  the  usual  instruments 
of  correction.  The  effect  of  this  humane  law  was,  how- 
ever, done  away  by  a  subsequent  enactment  of  Constantino. 
Several  councils  of  the  Church  endeavored  to  repress  slave- 
murder,  by  threatening  the  perpetrators  with  temporary  ex- 
communication.* Adrian  suppressed  the  work-houses  for 
the  confinement  of  slaves.  Several  humane  laws  were 
enacted  by  Constantino  in  relation  to  the  separation  of  fami- 
lies.     One  directs   that  property  shall  be  so  divided,  "  ut 

*  "  Et  in  pluribus  quidem  conciliis  statutum  est,  excommunicationi, 
vel  pcenitentias  biennii,  esse  subjiciendum,  qui  servum  proprium  sine 
conscientifi  judicis  occidint."  —  Muratori. 


ROMAN   SLAVERY.  Ill 

integra  apud  possessorem  unumquemque  servoi'um  agnatic 
permaneat."  Another  law  says,  "  ut  integra  apud  succes- 
sorem  unumquemque  servorum,  vel  colonorum  adscriptitise 
conditionis,  seu  inquilinorum  proximorum  agnatic,  vel  ad- 
finitas  permaneat."  A  Christian  church  afforded  very  great 
safety  from  the  wrath  of  unmerciful  owners  ;  for  when  a 
slave  took  refuge  there,  it  became  the  duly  of  the  ecclesi- 
astics to  intercede  for  him  with  his  master,  and,  if  the  latter 
refused  to  pardon  the  slave,  they  were  bound  not  to  give 
him  up,  but  to  let  him  live  within  the  precincts  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, till  he  chose  to  depart,  or  his  owner  granted  him  for- 
giveness. In  Christian  times,  the  ceremony  of  manumis- 
sion,* which  was  performed  in  church,  particularly  at  Easter, 
and  other  festivals  of  religion,  was  considered  the  most 
regular  mode  of  emancipation,  and  came  to  displace,  in  a 
great  measure,  the  other  forms.  This  mode  was  introduced 
and  regulated  by  three  laws  of  Constantine  ;  f  but  it  was  not 

*  The  different  modes  of  manumission  were  the  following :  1 .  Vin- 
dicta,  the  pronouncing  of  a  form  of  words  by  the  owner  before  the 
praetor.  2.  Census,  enrolment  in  the  censor's  books.  3.  Testamen- 
tum,  by  will.  4.  Epistolam,  by  letter.  5.  Per  convivium,  at  the  ban- 
quet. 6.  By  the  master  designedly  calling  the  slave  his  son.  7.  By 
actual  adoption.  8.  Leave  given  to  a  slave  to  subscribe  his  name  as 
witness.     9.  Attiring  a  slave  in  the  insignia  of  a  freeman,  etc. 

t  The  following  is  the  rescript  of  Constantine :  "  Qui  religiosa  mente 
in  ecclesise  gremio  servulis  suis  meritam  concesserint  libertatem,  ean- 
dem  eodem  jure  donAsse  videantur,  quo  civitas  Romana  solennitatibns 
decursis  dari  consuevit.  Sed  hoc  duntaxat  iis,  qui  sub  aspectu  antisti- 
tum  dederint,  placuit  relaxari.  Clericis  autem  amplius  concedimus, 
ut,  cum  suis  famulis  tribuunt  libertatem,  non  solum  in  conspectu  eccle- 
siae  ac  religiosi  populi  plenum  fructum  libertatis  concessisse  dicantur, 
verum  etiam  cum  postremo  judicio  libertates  dederint,  seu  quibus- 
cunque  verbis  dari  prseceperint ;  ita  ut  ex  die  publicatse  voluntatis, 
sine  aliquo  juris  teste  vel  interprete,  competat  directa  libertas." 


112  ROMAN    SLAVERY. 

adopted  over  the  whole  Empire  at  once,  as,  nearly  one  hun- 
dred years  afterwards,  the  Council  of  Carthage,  A.  D.  401, 
resolved  to  ask  of  the  Emperor  authority  to  manumit  in 
church.  The  request  was  granted.  Augustine,  in  one  of 
his  sermons,  mentions  the  formalities  thus  observed  in  con- 
ferring freedom.*  After  the  establishment  of  Christianity 
as  a  national  religion,  when  heresy  came  to  be  dreaded  as 
much  as  treason,  the  testimony  of  slaves  was  received  equally 
in  respect  to  matters  relating  to  their  own  interests  and  to 
those  of  their  masters.  The  Church  did  not  openly  maintain 
the  validity  of  slave  nuptials  for  many  years.  Attempts  of 
free  persons  to  form  marriages  with  slaves  were  severely 
punished. t  Justinian  removed  most  of  the  obstacles  which 
preceding  emperors  had  placed  in  the  way  of  manumission. 
Slavery  did  not  cease,  however,  till  a  comparatively  late 
period,  f 

*  Augustine,  in  another  place,  holds  the  following  language  :  "  Non 
oportet  Christianum  possidere  servum  quomodo  equum  aut  argentum. 
Quis  dicere  audeat,  ut  vestimentum  eum  debere  contemni?  liominem 
namque  homo  taniquam  seipsum  diligere  debet,  cui  ab  omnium  Domino, 
ut  inimicos  diligat,  imperatur." 

t  "  The  Emperor  Basilius  allowed  slaves  to  marry,  and  receive  the 
priestly  benediction  ;  but  this  having  been  disregarded,  Alexius  Comne- 
nus  renewed  the  pprniission.  It  seems  to  have  been  thought  either 
that  the  benediction  gave  freedom,  or  ought  to  be  followed  by  it."  — 
Blair.     See  Justin.  Grseco-Roman.  Lib.  II.  5. 

X  The  authorities  on  the  general  subject,  which  we  have  consulted, 
are  the  different  codes  of  Roman  law ;  Gibbon  ;  ^vo  Essays  of  M.  de 
Burigny,  in  Vols.  XXXV.  and  XXXVII.  of  Memoires  de  rAcademie 
des  Inscriptions ;  and  Blair's  Inquiry  into  the  State  of  Slavery  among 
the  Romans,  Edinburgh,  1833,  a  valuable  work.  In  nearly  all  the  facts 
which  we  have  quoted  from  him,  we  have  referred  to  the  original 
authorities.  We  have  made  a  personal  examination  of  nearly  all  the 
extant  Latin  authors,  including  the  historians  of  Byzantium,  and  the 
•arly  writers  and  fathers  of  the  Christian  Church. 


SLAVERY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.* 


Before  the  conclusion  of  the  fifth  century,  the  Roman 
Empire  in  all  the  West  of  Europe  w|is  overthrown  by  the 
Northern  barbarous  nations.  The  Vandals  were  masters  of 
Africa ;  the  Suevi  held  part  of  Spain ;  the  Visigoths  held 
the  remainder,  with  a  large  portion  of  Gaul ;  the  Burgun- 
dians  occupied  the  provinces  watered  by  the  Rhone  and 
Saone  ;  the  Ostrogoths,  nearly  the  whole  of  Italy.  Among 
these  barbarous  nations  involuntary  servitude,  in  various 
forms,  seems  to  have  existed.  Tacitus  de  Moribus  Germa- 
norum,  XXV.,  says  :  "  The  slaves  in  general  were  not  ar- 
ranged at  their  several  employments  in  the  household  affairs, 
as  is  the  practice  at  Rome.  Each  has  his  separate  habita- 
tion, and  his  own  establishment  to  manage.  The  master 
considers  him  as  an  agrarian  dependent,  who  is  obliged  to 
furnish  a  certain  quantity  of  grain,  of  cattle,  or  of  wearing- 
apparel.  The  slave  obeys,  and  the  state  of  servitude  ex- 
tends no  further.  All  domestic  affairs  are  managed  by  the 
master's  wife  and  children.     To  punish  a  slave  with  stripes, 

*  This  Essay  was  originally  published  in  the  Biblical  Kepository  for 
January,  1836. 

10* 


114  SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

to  load  him  with  chains,  to  condemn  him  to  hard  labor,  is 
unusual.  It  is  true,  that  slaves  are,  sometimes,  put  to  death, 
not  under  color  of  justice,  or  of  any  authority  vested  in  the 
master,  but  in  a  transport  of  passion,  in  a  fit  of  rage,  as  is 
often  the  case  in  a  sudden  affray  ;  but  it  is  also  true,  that 
this  species  of  homicide  passes  with  impunity.  The  freed- 
men  are  not  of  much  higher  consideration  than  the  actual 
slaves.  They  obtain  no  rank  in  the  master's  family,  and, 
if  we  except  the  parts  of  Germany  where  monarchy  is 
established,  they  never  figure  on  the  stage  of  public  busi- 
ness. In  despotic  governments,  they  rise  above  the  men 
of  ingenuous  birth,  and  even  eclipse  the  whole  body  of 
nobles.  In  other  stales,  the  subordination  of  the  freedmen 
is  a  proof  of  public  liberty."  It  is  not  easy  to  determine 
whether  liberty  most  flourished  in  Germany,  or  Gaul.  In 
the  latter  the  influence  of  religion  was  much  greater,  while 
in  the  former  there  was  more  individual  independence.  In 
Gaul,  however,  manumission  was  much  more  frequent,  the 
slaves  being  made  free,  in  order  that  they  might,  on  any 
emergency,  be  able  to  assist  their  lords,  who  had  not,  like 
the  German  barons,  freeborn  warriors  always  at  hand  to 
assist  them.  In  Gaul,  the  Church  had  a  much  greater 
number  of  slaves ;  and  under  the  influence  of  Christianity 
slavery  is  always  sure  to  be  mitigated. 

In  the  various  ancient  codes  of  law,*  the  first  thing  which 
strikes  us  is  the  distinction  of  social  ranks.  The  funda- 
mental one  is  that  of  freemen  and  slaves.  Besides  the  slaves 
who  become  so  by  birth,  or  the  fortune  of  war,  anciently 
any  freeman  could  dispose  of  his  own  liberty :  if  he  mar- 

*  Such  as  the  Lex  Salica,  the  Code  of  the  Eipuarii,  Code  of  the 
Burgundians,  Lex  Saxonum,  etc. 


SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES.  115 

ried  a  female  slave,  he  incurred  the  same  penalty  ;  if  unable 
to  pay  his  debts,  he  became  the  bondsman  of  his  creditors. 
The  code  of  the  Lombards  in  Italy  seems,  in  some  respects, 
to  have  been  peculiarly  rigorous.  For  him  who  slew  his 
own  slave  no  punishment  was  provided  ;  but  no  composi- 
tion would  atone  for  the  life  of  the  slave  who  assassinated  a 
freeman.  If  a  slave  presumed  to  marry  a  freewoman,  the 
doom  of  both  was  death ;  but  the  freeman  might  marry  his 
maiden,  provided  he  previously  enfranchised  her.  Such 
unions  were,  however,  regarded  as  disgraceful.  The  slave 
had  little  hope  of  escape.  Enfranchisement  was  far  from 
frequent,  and  the  libertus  was  as  dependent  on  his  patron, 
as  the  slave  on  his  owner ;  neither  could  marry  beyond  his 
own  caste  without  incurring  the  penalty  of  death  ;  yet  mar- 
riage was  all  but  obligatory,  that  servitude  might  be  perpet- 
uated. Manumission  generally  took  place  in  the  churches, 
or  by  will,  or  by  a  written  instrument ;  and  these  three 
modes  were  also  common  to  the  Romans ;  but  there  were 
other  modes  peculiar  to  certain  nations.  In  France,  it  was 
effected  by  striking  a  denarius  from  the  hands  of  the  slave, 
or  by  opening  the  door  for  him  to  escape.  The  Lombards 
delivered  him  to  one  man,  this  man  delivered  him  to  a  third, 
the  third  to  a  fourth,  who  told  him  he  had  leave  to  go  east, 
west,  north,  or  south.  The  owner  might  also  deliver  his 
slave  to  the  king,  that  the  king  might  deliver  him  to  the 
priest,  who  might  manumit  him  at  the  altar.  Among  the 
Lombards,  the  symbol  was  sometimes  an  arrow,  which, 
being  delivered  to  the  slave,  betokened  that  he  was  now 
privileged  to  bear  arms,  —  the  distinguishing  characteristic 
of  freedom.*     The  condition  of  the  liberti  varied  ;  those 

*  See  Muratori's  Ital.  Scriptor.  Rerum,  Vol.  I.  Pars  ii.  p.  90. 


116  SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

who  were  emancipated  before  the  altar  were  exempted  from 
every  species  of  dependence.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  manumissio  per  denarium,  per  quartam  manum,  per 
portas  patentes  ;  but  if  per  chartam,  the  libertus  obtained  a 
much  less  share  of  freedom  ;  if  he  escaped  from  personal, 
he  was  still  subject  to  other  service,  and  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  his  late  owner.  The  rustic  freedman  seldom  possessed 
any  land,  and  if  he  removed,  as  his  new  condition  allowed 
him,  to  any  city  or  town,  he  was  still  bound  by  an  annual 
return  to  his  patron.  He  could  not  depose  in  a  court  of 
justice  to  that  patron's  prejudice,  nor  marry  without  his 
consent.  The  ingenuus,  who  enjoyed  freedom  without  any 
civil  dignity,  and  who  was  privileged  to  carry  arms,  often 
engaged  himself  as  the  client  of  some  chief,  with  whom  he 
fought  during  war,  and  administered  justice  during  peace  ; 
if  no  client,  he  was  still  liable  to  military  service,  and  to 
assist  in  the  local  courts.  Among  the  Salian  Franks,  if  a 
freeman  married  a  slave,  he  became  a  slave.  The  Ripua- 
rians  were  still  more  severe  ;  the  woman  who  had  married 
a  slave  was  offered,  by  the  local  judge  or  court,  a  sword 
and  a  spindle  ;  if  she  took  the  former,"  she  must  kill  her 
husband;  if  the  latter,  she  must  embrace  servitude  with 
him.  Greater  severity  still  was  found  among  the  Burgun- 
dians,  Visigoths,  and  Lombards.  Among  the  Saxons,  says 
Adam  of  Bremen,  it  is  commanded  that  no  unequal  mar- 
riages be  contracted,  —  that  noble  marry  with  noble,  free- 
man with  freewoman,  freedman  with  freedwoman,  slave 
with  slave  ;  for  if  any  one  should  marry  out  of  his  condi- 
tion, he  is  punished  with  death.  A  criminal  leniency  to- 
wards crimes  committed  against  slaves,  and  great  severity 
towards  crimes  committed  by  that  unfortunate  class,  char- 
acterize more  or  less  all  the  German  codes.     By  the  Lex 


SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES.  117 

Saxonum,  the  mulct  for  the  murder  of  a  noble  was  1440 
sols  to  the  kindred,  besides  a  fine  to  the  State  ;  for  that  of  a 
freedman,  120  ;  for  that  of  a  slave  by  a  noble,  36  ;  but  by 
a  freedman  an  oath  of  compurgation  sufficed. 

The  perpetual  wars  in  which  these  nations  were  engaged, 
greatly  increased  the  number  of  slaves.  The  Goth,  the 
Burgundian,  or  the  Frank,  who  returned  from  a  successful 
expedition,  dragged  after  him  a  long  train  of  sheep,  of  oxen, 
and  of  human  captives,  whom  he  treated  with  the  same 
brutal  contempt.  The  youths  of  an  elegant  form  were  set 
apart  for  the  domestic  service  ;  a  doubtful  situation,  which 
alternately  exposed  them  to  the  favorable  or  cruel  impulse 
of  passion.  The  useful  smiths,  carpenters,  cooks,  garden- 
ers, etc.  employed  their  skill  for  the  benefit  of  their  masters. 
But  the  Roman  captives,  who  were  destitute  of  art,  but 
capable  of  labor,  were  condemned,  without  regard  to  their 
former  condition,  to  tend  the  cattle,  and  cultivate  the  lands 
of  the  barbarians.  The  number  of  the  hereditary  bonds- 
men, who  were  attached  to  the  Gallic  estates,  was  contin- 
ually increased  by  new  supplies.  When  the  masters  gave 
their  daughters  in  marriage,  a  train  of  useful  servants, 
chained  on  the  wagons  to  prevent  their  escape,  was  sent 
as  a  nuptial  present  into  a  distant  country.  The  Roman 
laws  protected  the  liberty  of  each  citizen  against  the  rash 
efiects  of  his  own  distress  or  despair.  But  the  subjects  of 
the  Merovingian  kings  might  alienate  their  personal  free- 
dom.* From  the  reign  of  Clovis,  during  five  successive 
centuries,  the  laws  and  manners  of  Gaul  uniformly  tended 
to  promote  the  increase  and  to  confirm  the  duration  of 
personal  servitude. 

*  "Licentiam  habeatis  mihi  qualemcunque  volueritis  disciplinam 
ponere ;  vel  venumdare,  aut  quod  vobis  placuerit  de  me  facere." 


118  SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

In  a  later  age,  and  during  the  prevalence  of  the  feudal 
system,  the  lower  class  of  the  population  may  be  considered 
under  three  divisions.  1.  Freemen,  distinguished  among 
the  writers  of  the  Middle  Ages  as  Arimanni,  Conditionales, 
Originarii,  Tributales,  etc.  These  persons  possessed  some 
small  allodial  property  of  their  own,  and,  besides  that,  culti- 
vated some  farm  belonging  to  their  more  wealthy  neighbors, 
for  which  they  paid  a  fixed  rent,  and  likewise  bound  them- 
selves to  perform  several  small  services.  These  were 
properly  free  persons ;  yet  such  was  the  spirit  of  oppression 
cherished  by  the  great  landholders,  that  many  freemen  in 
despair  renounced  their  liberty,  and  voluntarily  surrendered 
themselves  as  slaves  to  their  powerful  masters.  This  they 
did  in  order  that  their  masters  might  become  more  immedi- 
ately interested  to  afford  them  protection,  together  with  the 
means  of  subsisting  themselves  and  their  families.  It  was  still 
more  common  for  freemen  to  surrender  their  liberty  to  bish- 
ops or  abbots,  that  they  might  partake  of  the  security  which 
the  vassals  and  slaves  of  monasteries  and  churches  enjoyed. 

2.  Villani.  They  were  likewise  adscripti  glebcB  or  villce, 
from  which  they  derived  their  name.  They  differed  from 
slaves  in  that  they  paid  a  fixed  rent  to  their  master  for  the 
land  which  they  cultivated,  and,  after  paying  that,  all  the 
fruits  of  their  labor  and  industry  belonged  to  themselves  in 
property.  They  were,  however,  precluded  from  selling  the 
lands  on  which  they  dwelt.  Their  persons  were  bound, 
and  their  masters  might  reclaim  them,  at  any  time,  in  a 
court  of  law,  if  they  strayed.  In  England,  at  least  from  the 
reign  of  Henry  II.,  the  villeins  were  incapable  of  holding 
property,  and  destitute  of  redress,  except  against  the  most 
outrageous  injuries.  Their  tenure  bound  them  to  what 
were  called  villein-services,  such  as  the  felling  of  timber, 


SLAVERY   IN    THE    MIDDLE   AGES.  119 

the  carrying  of  manure,  and  the  repairing  of  roads.  But 
by  the  customs  of  France  and  Germany,  persons  in  this 
abject  state  seem  to  have  been  serfs,  and  distinguished 
from  villeins,  who  were  only  bound  to  fixed  payments  and 
duties.* 

3.  Servi.  The  masters  of  slaves  had  absolute  power  over 
their  persons,  and  could  inflict  punishment  when  they  pleased, 
without  the  intervention  of  a  judge.  They  possessed  this 
dangerous  right,  not  only  in  the  more  early  periods,  when 
their  manners  were  fierce,  but  it  continued  as  late  as  the 
twelfth  century.  Even  after  this  jurisdiction  of  masters  came 
to  be  restrained,  the  life  of  a  slave  was  deemed  to  be  of  so 
little  value,  that  a  very  slight  compensation  atoned  for  tak- 
ing it  away.  In  cases  where  culprits  who  were  freemen 
were  punished  by  fine,  slaves  were  punished  corporeally. 
Slaves  might  be  put  to  the  rack  on  very  slight  occasions. 
During  several  centuries  after  the  barbarous  nations  em- 
braced Christianity,  slaves  who  lived  together  as  husband 
and  wife  were  not  joined  together  by  any  religious  cere- 
mony, and  did  not  receive  the  nuptial  benediction  from  a 
priest.  When  this  connection  came  to  be  considered  as 
lawful  marriage,  the  slaves  were  not  permitted  to  marry 
without  the  consent  of  their  masters ;  and  such  as  ventured 
to  do  so,  without  obtaining  this  consent,  were  punished  with 
great  severity,  and  sometimes  were  put  to  death.  After- 
wards, such  delinquents  were  subjected  only  to  a  fine.  All 
the'children  of  slaves  were  in  the  same  condition  with  their 
parents,  and  became  the  property  of  their  masters.     Slaves 


*  See  Ducange  on  the  words  Villanus,  Servus,  Obnoxatio.  Also 
Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  Vol.  I.  p.  121,  and  a  note  in  Vol.  I.  of  Robert- 
son's Charles  V. 


120  SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

were  so  entirely  the  property  of  their  master,  that  he 
could  sell  them  at  pleasure.  While  domestic  slavery  con- 
tinued, property  in  a  slave  was  sold  in  the  same  manner 
precisely  in  which  property  in  any  other  movable  was 
sold.  Afterwards,  slaves  became  adscripli  glebcB,  and 
were  conveyed  by  sale,  together  with  the  farm  or  estate  to 
which  they  belonged.  Slaves  had  a  title  to  nothing  but 
subsistence  and  clothes  from  their  master.  If  they  had  any 
peculiiim,  or  fixed  allowance  for  their  subsistence,  they  had 
no  right  of  property  in  what  they  saved  out  of  that.  All 
which  they  accumulated  belonged  to  their  master.  Slaves 
were  distinguished  from  freemen  by  a  peculiar  dress. 
Among  all  the  barbarous  nations  long  hair  was  a  mark  of 
dignity  and  freedom.  Slaves  were  for  that  reason  obliged 
to  shave  their  heads,  and  thus  they  were  constantly  re- 
minded of  their  own  inferiority.  For  the  same  reason,  it 
was  enacted  in  the  laws  of  almost  all  the  nations  of  Europe, 
that  no  slave  should  be  admitted  to  give  evidence  against  a 
freeman  in  a  court  of  justice.* 

When  charters  of  liberty  or  manumission  were  granted 
to  persons  in  servitude,  they  contained  four  concessions  cor- 
responding with  the  four  capital  grievances  to  which  men  in 


*  Ducange,  ander  the  word  Servus,  mentions,  among  others,  the  fol- 
lowing classes  of  slaves :  Of  the  field  ;  beneficiarii ;  attached  to  the  soil, 
adscripti  glebce ;  censuales  servi  civitatis,  public  slaves  ;  servi  comiium ; 
consuetudinarii,  a  species  of  serfs  ;  ecclesiastici,  belonging  to  the  Church ; 
Jiscales,  connected  with  the  royal  treasury ;  fagilivi ;  servi  fundorum ; 
gregarii ;  massari,  a  species  of  serfs ;  ministeriales,  domestics  employed 
in  and  about  the  house,  of  whom  twenty  classes  are  enumerated ; 
palatii ;  servi  posnce  ;  stipendiarii ;  testamentales  ;  trihutarii;  triduani,  who 
served  three  days  for  themselves,  and  three  for  their  masters ;  vicarii, 
who  performed  in  the  country-seats  duties  for  their  masters,  etc. 


SLAVERY    IN    THE    BIIDDLE    AGES.  121 

bondage  are  subject :  —  1.  The  right  of  disposing  of  their 
persons  by  sale  or  grant  was  relinquished.  2.  Power  was 
given  to  them  of  conveying  their  property  and  effects  by 
will  or  any  other  legal  deed.  Or  if  they  happened  to  die 
intestate,  it  was  provided  that  their  property  should  go  to 
their  lawful  heirs,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  property  of 
other  persons.  3.  The  services  and  taxes  which  they  owed 
to  their  superior,  which  had  been  previously  arbitrary  and 
imposed  at  pleasure,  were  precisely  ascertained.  4.  They 
were  allowed  the  privilege  of  marrying  according  to  their 
own  inclination.  Many  circumstances  combined  to  effect 
this  deliverance  for  the  slaves.  The  spirit  and  precepts  of 
the  Christian  religion  were  of  great  efficacy.  Christians  be- 
came so  sensible  of  the  inconsistency  of  their  conduct  with 
their  professions,  that  to  set  a  slave  free  was  deemed  an 
act  of  highly  meritorious  piety.  "The  humane  spirit  of 
the  Christian  religion,"  says  Dr.  Robertson,  "  struggled  long 
with  the  maxims  and  customs  of  the  world,  and  contributed 
more  than  any  other  circumstance  to  introduce  the  practice 
of  manumission."  *  A  great  part  of  the  charters  of  manu- 
mission previously  to  the  reign  of  Louis  X.  were  granted  "  pro 
amore  Dei,  pro  remedio  animse,  et  pro  mercede  animse." 
The  formality  of  manumission  was  executed  in  church,  as 
a  religious  solemnity.     The  person  to  be  set  free  was  led 

*  When  Pope  Gregory,  towards  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  granted 
liberty  to  some  of  his  slaves,  he  introduces  this  reason  for  it :  "  Cum 
Redemptor  noster,  totius  conditor  natursB,  ad  hoc  propitiatus  humanam 
carnem  voluerit  assumere,  ut  divinitatis  suoz  gratia,  dirempto  (quo 
tenebatur  captivus)  vinculo,  pristinae  nos  restitueret  libertati ;  salubriter 
agitur,  si  homines,  quos  ab  initio  liberos  natura  protulit,  et  jus  gentium 
jugo  substituit  servitutis,  in  ea,  qua  nati  fuerant,  manumittentis  bene- 
ficio,  libertate  reddantur." 

VOL.  IT.  11 


122  SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

round  the  great  altar  with  a  torch  in  his  hand ;  he  took  hold 
of  the  horns  of  the  altar,  and  there  the  solemn  words  of 
conferring  liberty  were  pronounced.  Another  method  of 
obtaining  liberty  was  by  entering  into  holy  orders,  or  tak- 
ing the  vow  in  a  monastery.  This  was  permitted  for  some 
time,  but  so  many  slaves  escaped,  by  this  means,  out  of  the 
hands  of  their  masters,  that  the  practice  was  afterwards 
restrained,  and  at  last  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  most  of  the 
nations  of  Europe.  Princes,  on  the  birth  of  a  son,  or  other 
joyous  event,  enfranchised  a  certain  number  of  slaves  as  a 
testimony  of  gratitude  to  God.  There  are  several  kinds  of 
manumission  published  by  Marculfus,  and  all  of  them  are 
founded  on  religious  considerations,  in  order  to  procure  the 
favor  of  God,  or  to  obtain  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  Mistaken 
ideas  concerning  religion  induced  some  persons  to  relin- 
quish their  liberty.  The  oblati,  or  voluntary  slaves  of 
churches  or  monasteries,  were  very  numerous.  Great,  how- 
ever, as  the  power  of  religion  was,  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  enfranchisement  of  slaves  was  a  very  frequent  practice 
while  the  feudal  system  maintained  its  ascendency.  The 
inferior  order  of  men  owed  the  recovery  of  their  liberty  in 
part  to  the  decline  of  that  aristocratical  policy,  which  lodged 
the  most  extensive  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  membei-s  of 
the  society,  and  depressed  all  the  rest.  When  Louis  X. 
issued  his  ordinance,  some  slaves  had  been  so  long  accus- 
tomed to  servitude,  that  they  refused  to  accept  of  the  free- 
dom which  was  offered  to  them.  Long  after  the  reign  of 
Louis  X.,  several  of  the  ancient  nobility  continued  to  exer- 
cise dominion  over  their  slaves.  In  some  instances  when 
the  prandial  slaves  were  declared  to  be  freemen,  they  were 
still  bound  to  perform  certain  services  to  their  ancient  mas- 
ters, and  were  kept  in  a  state  different  from  other  subjects, 


SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES.  123 

being  restricted  either  from  purchasing  land,  or  becoming 
members  of  a  community  within  the  precincts  of  the  manor 
to  which  they  formerly  belonged. 

Slavery  seems  to  have  existed  among  our  English  ances- 
tors from  the  earliest  times.  The  anecdote  respecting  the 
Angli  found  in  Rome  by  Pope  Gregory,  is  well  known. 
The  Anglo-Saxons,  in  their  conquests,  probably  found,  and 
certainly  made,  a  great  number  of  slaves.  The  posterity  of 
these  men  inherited  the  lot  of  their  fathers.  Many  free- 
born  Saxons,  on  account  of  debt,  want,  or  crime,  lost  their 
liberty.  The  enslavement  of  a  freeman  was  performed 
before  a  competent  number  of  witnesses.  The  unhappy 
man  laid  on  the  ground  his  sword  and  lance,  the  symbols  of 
the  free ;  took  up  the  bill  and  the  goad,  the  implements  of 
slavery  ;  and,  falling  on  his  knees,  placed  his  head,  in  token 
of  submission,  under  the  hands  of  his  master.  In  the  more 
ancient  laws,  we  find  various  classes  of  slaves.  The  most 
numerous  class  were  the  villani.  All  were,  however,  for- 
bidden to  carry  arms,  were  subjected  to  ignominious  pun- 
ishments, and  might  be  branded  and  whipped  according  to 
law.*  In  the  charter,  by  which  one  Harold  of  Buckenhale 
gives  his  manor  of  Spalding  to  the  Abbey  of  Croyland,  he 
enumerates  among  its  appendages,  Colgrin  his  bailiff,  Har- 
ding his  smith,  Lefstan  his  carpenter,  Elstan  his  fisherman, 
Osmund  his  miller,  and  nine  others,  who  were  probably 
husbandmen  ;  and  these,  with  their  wives  and  children,  their 

*  In  the  reign  of  Athelstan,  a  man-thief  was  ordered  to  be  stoned 
to  death  by  twenty  of  his  fellows,  each  of  whom  was  punished  with 
three  whippings,  if  he  failed  thrice  to  hit  the  culprit.  A  woman -thief 
was  burned  by  eighty  women-slaves,  each  of  whom  brought  three  billets 
of  wood  to  the  execution.    If  either  failed,  she  was  likewise  whipped. 


124  SLAVERY   IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

goods  and  chattels,  and  the  cottages  in  which  they  lived,  he 
transfers  in  perpetual  possession  to  the  Abbey.  The  sale 
and  purchase  of  slaves  prevailed  during  the  whole  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  period.  The  toll  in  the  market  of  Lewes  was 
one  penny  for  the  sale  of  an  ox,  four  pennies  for  that  of  a 
slave.  On  the  importation  of  foreign  slaves  no  impediment 
had  ever  been  imposed.  The  export  of  native  slaves  was 
forbidden  under  severe  penalties.  But  habit  and  avarice 
had  taught  the  Northumbrians  to  bid  defiance  to  all  the 
efforts  of  the  legislature.  They  even  carried  off  their  rela- 
tions, and  sold  them  as  slaves  in  the  ports  of  the  Continent. 
The  men  of  Bristol  were  the  last  to  abandon  this  traffic. 
Their  agents  travelled  into  every  part  of  the  country  ;  they 
were  instructed  to  give  the  highest  price  for  females  in  a 
state  of  pregnancy  ;  and  the  slave-ships  regularly  sailed 
from  that  port  to  Ireland,  where  they  were  secure  of  a 
ready  and  profitable  market.  At  last,  Wulstan,  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  visited  Bristol  several  years  successively,  resided 
for  months  in  the  neighborhood,  and  preached  eveiy  Sun- 
day against  the  barbarity  and  irreligion  of  the  slave-dealers. 
The  merchants  were  convinced  by  his  reasons,  and  in  their 
guild  solemnly  bound  themselves  to  renounce  the  trade.  The 
perfidy  of  one  of  the  members  was  punished  with  the  loss 
of  his  eyes.  The  influence  of  religion  considerably  miti- 
gated the  hardships  of  the  slaves.  The  bishop  was  the  ap- 
pointed protector  of  the  slaves  in  his  diocese.  The  masters 
were  frequently  admonished,  that  slaves  and  freemen  were 
of  equal  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  Almighty ;  that  all  had 
been  redeemed  at  the  same  price  ;  and  that  the  master 
would  be  judged  with  the  same  rigor  which  he  had  exercised 
towards  his  dependents.  The  prospect  of  obtaining  their 
freedom  was  a  powerful  stimulus  to  their  industry  and  good 


SLAVERY    IN   THE    MIDDLE    AGES.  125 

behavior.  When  the  celebrated  Wilfred  had  received  from 
Edelevaleh,  king  of  Sussex,  the  donation  of  the  isles  of 
Selsey,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  slaves,  the  bishop  in- 
structed them  in  the  Christian  faith,  baptized  them,  and  im- 
mediately made  them  free.  In  most  of  the  wills  which  are 
still  extant,  we  meet  with  directions  for  granting  liberty  to 
a  certain  number  of  slaves,  especially  such  as  had  been 
reduced  to  slavery  by  the  wile  theow^  a  judicial  sentence. 
Their  manumission,  to  be  legal,  was  to  be  performed  in  the 
market,  in  the  court  of  the  hundred,  or  in  the  church. 

In  the  abstract  of  the  population  of  England  in  the  Dooms- 
day Book,  at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, the  whole  population  is  stated  at  283,242,  of  which 
the  servi  are  25,156;  ancillcz^  467;  burdarii,  82,119; 
villani,  108,407  ;  total,  216,149  ;  leaving  for  the  remaining 
classes,  67,093.  The  servi  of  the  Norman  period,  says 
Bishop  Kennett,  might  be  the  pure  villani,  and  villani  in 
gross^  who  without  any  determined  tenure  of  land  were,  at 
the  arbitrary  pleasure  of  the  lord,  appointed  to  servile  works, 
and  received  their  wages  and  maintenance  at  the  discretion 
of  their  lord.  We  have  the  authority  of  Bracton  for  assert- 
ing that,  however  unhappy  the  condition  of  the  servi  was  in 
other  respects,  yet  their  lives  and  limbs  were  under  the 
protection  of  the  laws  ;  so  that  if  the  master  killed  his  bond- 
man, he  was  subject  to  the  same  punishment  as  if  he  had 
killed  any  other  person.  The  form  of  emancipation  of  the 
servi  is  minutely  described  in  the  laws  of  the  Conqueror. 
The  ancillce  were  female  slaves  under  circumstances  nearly 
similar  to  the  servi.  Their  chastity  was  in  some  measure 
protected  by  law.  The  bordarii  were  distinct  from  the 
servi  and  villani,  and  seem  to  be  those  of  a  less  servile 
condition,  who  had  a  bord  or  cottage  with  a  small  parcel  of 
11* 


126  SLAVERY    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

land,  on  condition  that  they  should  supply  the  master  with 
eggs,  poultry,  etc.,  as  very  necessary  for  his  hoard  and 
entertainment.  Brady  says,  "  they  were  drudges  and  per- 
formed vile  services,  which  were  reserved  by  the  lord  upon 
a  poor  little  house,  and  a  small  parcel  of  land."*  The 
villani  have  already  been  described. 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  general  law  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  slaves  in  the  statute-book  of  England.  Though 
the  genius  of  the  English  constitution  favored  personal  lib- 
erty, yet  servitude  continued  long  in  England,  in  particular 
places.  In  the  year  1514,  we  find  a  charter  of  Henry  VIII., 
enfranchising  two  slaves  belonging  to  one  of  his  manors. 
As  late  as  1547,  there  is  a  commission  from  Elizabeth  with 
respect  to  the  manumission  of  certain  slaves  belonging  to 
her. 

In  Italy,  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  the  number 
of  slaves  began  to  decrease.  Early  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
a  writer  quoted  by  Muratori  speaks  of  them  as  no  longer  ex- 
isting. The  greater  part  of  the  peasants  in  some  countries  of 
Germany  had  acquired  their  liberty  before  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  In  other  parts,  as  well  as  in  the  northern  and 
eastern  portions  of  Europe,  they  remain  in  a  sort  of  villen- 
age  to  this  day.  In  France,  after  innumerable  particular  in- 
stances of  manumission  had  taken  place,  Louis  Hutin,  by  a 
general  edict  in  1315,  asserting  that  his  kingdom  is  denomi- 
nated the  kingdom  of  the  Franks^  that  he  would  have  the 
fact  correspond  to  the  name,  emancipates  all  persons  in  the 
royal  domains  upon  paying  a  just  composition,  as  an  ex- 
ample for  other  lords  possessing  villeins  to  follow,     Philip 


*  See  General  Introduction  to  the  Doomsday  Book,  by  Sir  Henry 
Ellis,  principal  Librarian  of  the  British  Museum,  2  vols  ,  1833. 


SLAVERY   IN    THE    BIIDDLE   AGES.  127 

the  Long  renewed  the  same  edict  three  years  afterwards,  a 
proof  that  the  edict  of  Louis  had  not  been  carried  into  exe- 
cution. Preedial  servitude  was  not  abolished  in  all  parts  of 
France  till  the  Revolution.  In  1615,  the  Tiers  Etat  prayed 
the  king  to  cause  all  serfs  to  be  enfranchised,  on  paying  a 
composition ;  but  this  was  not  complied  with,  and  they  con- 
tinued to  exist  in  many  provinces.  Throughout  almost  the 
whole  jurisdiction  of  the  parliament  of  Besan9on,  the  peas- 
ants were  attached  to  the  soil,  not  being  capable  of  leaving 
it  without  the  lord's  consent ;  in  some  places  he  even  inher- 
ited their  goods,  in  exclusion  of  their  kindred.  Voltaire 
mentions  an  instance  of  his  interfering  in  behalf  of  a  few 
wretched  slaves  of  Franche  Compte.  About  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  some  Catalonian  serfs,  who  had  es- 
caped into  France,  being  claimed  by  their  lords,  the  parlia- 
ment of  Toulouse  declared  that  every  man  who  entered 
the  kingdom,  encriant  France,  should  be  free. 

On  a  review  of  the  subject  of  slavery  during  the  period 
in  question,  we  find  :  — 

1.  That  Christianity  had  done  much  to  abolish  slavery,  as 
it  existed  in  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  time  of  Constantino 
and  his  more  immediate  successors.  The  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  effected  a  glorious  triumph  in  almost  every 
portion  of  the  imperial  dominions.  There  was  no  instanta- 
neous abandonment  of  the  system  of  servitude.  There  was 
no  royal  edict  which  crushed  the  thing  at  once.  But  its 
contrariety  to  the  precepts  of  the  New  Testament  was 
gradually  seen.  Clergymen  vindicated  the  rights  of  the 
oppressed.  The  codes  of  slave  law  were  ameliorated,  till 
finally  the  rescripts  of  Justinian  nearly  completed  the  salu- 
tary reform. 


128  SLAVERY   IN    THE    MIDDLE   AGES. 

2.  During  the  last  years  of  the  Roman  Empire  an  unfor- 
tunate change  was  going  on,  which  was  destined  once  more 
to  revive  the  system.  The  middle  class  in  society  was 
dwindUng  away.  A  few  distinguished  famihes  swallowed 
up  the  moderate  landholders,  or  drove  them  out  of  the 
country.  A  large  class  of  hungry  and  spiritless  dependents, 
with  nothing  of  Roman  but  the  name,  crowded  the  towns 
and  country-seats.  The  vices  of  the  upper  class  rapidly 
thinned  their  ranks,  till  most  of  the  old  noble  families  be- 
came extinct.  The  barbarous  lords  then  rushed  in,  finding 
scarcely  any  thing  to  obstruct  their  progress.  The  abject 
Roman  multitude  became  slaves  in  form,  as  they  had  been 
for  some  time  in  spirit.  The  Goth  and  Vandal  threw  their 
chains  on  the  descendants  of  Cincinnatus  and  Brutus,  and 
sent  them  to  work  in  their  kitchens  and  farm-yards.  The 
children  of  the  men  from  whom  Scipio  sprung  became  the 
scavengers  and  scullions  of  Visigoths  and  Huns.  The  way 
had  been  prepared  by  the  destruction  of  the  middle  class,  — 
a  class  which  contains  the  bone  and  muscle  of  any  commu- 
nity in  which  it  exists.  A  foundation  was  thus  laid  for  the 
slavery  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

3.  In  the  darkness  and  confusion  which  reigned  from  the 
fourth  to  the  twelfth  century,  we  might  expect  that  such  an 
institution  as  slavery  would  flourish.  It  was  in  a  sense 
suited  to  the  times.  Its  undistinguished  and '  forgotten  lot 
was  in  some  cases,  no  doubt,  a  real  blessing  to  individuals, 
though  on  general  principles,  and  as  a  system,  it  is  worthy  of 
nothing  but  execration.  Partial  benefits  accompanied  the 
feudal  system,  though  in  its  essential  features  no  wise  man 
could  commend  it. 

4.  In  the  abolition  of  the  servitude  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
Christianity  again  performed  her  work  of  mercy.     When- 


SLAVERY   IN    THE    MIDDLE   AGES.  129 

ever  her  voice  could  be  heard,  the  poor  xnllein  vi^as  not 
forgotten.  All  contemporary  and  subsequent  history  con- 
spires to  attribute  the  gradual  abolition  of  the  system  to  her 
beneficent  but  effectual  aid. 

5.  The  Northern  nations  of  Europe  seem  always  to  have 
possessed  a  sense  of  individual  freedom,  of  personal  rights, 
which,  when  enlightened  and  directed  by  Christianity,  be- 
came a  powerful  antagonist  force  to  slavery.  The  spirit 
which  broke  out  at  Runnymede,  at  London  in  1688,  at 
Philadelphia  in  1776,  was  nurtured  in  its  infancy  in  the 
woods  of  Sweden,  and  in  the  marshes  of  Denmark. 

6.  The  contemporaneous  revival  of  learning  must  come 
in  for  its  share  in  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Xenophon  and 
Cicero  and  Lucan  could  not  be  perused  without  exerting  a 
beneficial  influence  in  ameliorating  the  asperity  of  man- 
ners, in  inspiring  a  love  for  freedom,  and  a  tender  sympathy 
towards  the  oppi'essed. 

7.  The  same  effect  must  be  attributed  to  the  establish- 
ment of  large  towns  and  cities.  This  circumstance  increased 
the  demand  for  labor.  Various  classes  of  artisans  sprung 
into  existence.  Wherever  ingenuity  and  skill  were  required, 
free  labor  was  in  demand.  Slavery  vanished  before  the 
spirit  of  competition.  Labor  became  honorable.  The  value 
of  land  was  augmented.  A  free  population  followed  in  the 
train. 


Note.  —  The  original  authorities  which  we  have  consulted  on  this 
subject  are  the  Glossarium  of  Ducange,  on  the  words  Servus,  Villanus, 
Tributales,  On'ffinarii,Furisinaritagium,  Arimanni,  Oblati,  Manumissio,  etc., 
in  6  vols,  folio  ;  Heineccius,  in  8  vols,  quarto ;  Muratori's  Antiquities  of 
Italy,  in  6  vols,  folio;  works  of  De  Malby,  in  French,  12  vols,  octavo. 
These  works  are  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  and  are  an  invaluable 


130  SLAVERY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Storehouse  of  materials.  Dr.  Robertson  has  two  very  valuable  notes 
on  the  subject  in  the  first  volume  of  his  History  of  Charles  V.  See 
also  Hallam's  Middle  Ages ;  Brodie's  British  Empire  ;  the  first  volume 
of  Lingard's  History  of  England  ;  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons  ;  Dunham's 
Germanic  Empire ;  Sismondi's  Italian  Republics ;  Montesquieu ;  Black- 
Btone's  Commentaries ;  Grotius  de  Jure  Belli  et  Pacis,  etc. 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 


In  the  United  States,  the  question  of  classical  education 
has  often  been  discussed,  and  its  utility  sometimes  vehe- 
mently denied.  In  the  mean  time,  the  study  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  authors,  and  the  taste  for  ancient  art,  have  been 
making  constant  progress,  both  in  schools  and  colleges. 
Many  of  the  choicest  works  of  the  classical  writers  have 
been  carefully  and  learnedly  edited  by  American  scholars. 
Professor  Woolsey's  selection  of  the  Attic  Tragedies  has 
been  welcomed  with  applause,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ; 
and  his  recent  edition  of  the  Gorgias  of  Plato  is  the  best 
edition  of  that  admirable  dialogue,  for  practical  use,  that 
has  ever  yet  appeared.  Other  works,  prepared  on  similar 
principles,  have  been  published  from  time  to  time ;  and,  at 
present,  the  classical  course,  in  several  of  our  colleges, 
instead  of  being  limited  to  a  volume  or  two  of  extracts,  em- 
braces a  series  of  entire  works  in  all  the  leading  departments 

*  This  Essay  was  published  in  1849,  as  an  Introduction  to  the 
volume  entitled  "  Classical  Studies,"  edited  by  Professors  Sears,  Fel- 
ton,  and  Edwards. 


132  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

of  ancient  literature.  The  mode  of  studying  antiquity  has 
also  been  materially  changed  and  improved  within  a  few 
years.  History,  the  arts,  the  domestic  life,  the  private  and 
public  usages,  the  mythology,  and  the  education  of  the 
ancients,  have  been  carefully  investigated,  and  their  scat- 
tered lights  concentrated  upon  the  literary  remains  of  antiq- 
uity. Thus  classical  scholarship  in  America  is  beginning  to 
breathe  the  same  spirit  which  animates  it  in  the  Old  World  ; 
it  is  beginning  to  be  something  higher  and  better  than  the 
dry  study  of  words  and  grammatical  forms ;  it  is  becoming 
a  liberal  and  elegant  pursuit,  —  a  comprehensive  apprecia- 
tion of  the  greatest  works  in  history,  poetry,  and  the  arts, 
that  the  genius  of  man  has  ever  produced. 

Amidst  the  din  of  practical  interests,  the  rivalries  of  com- 
merce, and  the  general  enterprises  of  the  age,  classical 
studies  are  gaining  ground  in  public  estimation.  It  must 
always  be  so  with  the  advance  of  civilization.  We  must, 
however,  confess  with  shame,  that  in  American  legislative 
assemblies,  where  we  naturally  look  to  find  the  highest 
courtesy  of  manners  and  the  graces  of  literature,  little  proof 
of  advancing  culture,  of  any  kind,  is  given.  Scenes  of 
brutality,  to  the  disgrace  and  sorrow  of  the  nation,  are  often 
enacted  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  that  seem  to 
show  that  the  night  of  barbarism  is  settling  over  the  land. 
Many  of  the  speeches  delivered  there  exhibit  a  coarseness 
and  vulgarity  of  sentiment,  a  disregard  or  ignorance  of  the 
proprieties  of  speech,  an  utter  insensibility  to  the  elegances 
of  letters,  and  to  the  humanizing  influences  of  the  arts, 
which  must  be  bitterly  deplored.  W'hen  a  work  of  art  was 
lately  received  in  Washington, —  a  work  on  which  the  great 
American  sculptor  had  lavished  all  the  resources  of  his 
genius,  and  spent  several  years  in  the  flower  of  his  life,  — 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  133 

it  was  assailed  by  an  honorable  member,  in  a  strain  of 
ribaldry  which  a  gentleman  cannot  even  quote. 

But  the  prospects  of  American  education  and  refinement 
are  more  encouraging,  if  we  turn  from  public  to  private  life. 
It  is  a  much  more  common  thing  for  young  men  to  continue 
their  classical  studies  beyond  the  time  of  the  college  educa- 
tion, than  it  has  been  in  former  days.  The  orators  and 
dramatists  of  Greece  and  Rome  are  frequently  made  the 
companions  of  the  writers  on  law  and  divinity,  though  clas- 
sical pursuits  are  sometimes  represented  as  on  the  decline  all 
over  the  world.  Modern  literature,  throbbing  with  present 
life,  —  impassioned  poetry,  which  the  strong  and  exciting 
character  of  the  age  kindles  into  fiery  expression,  —  take  hold 
of  all  hearts,  stir  up  all  minds,  and  leave  but  little  time  for 
the  severer  pursuits  of  the  classical  scholai*.  But  this  is  a 
wrong  view  of  the  subject,  at  least  in  the  extent  to  which  it 
is  sometimes  carried.  The  excitements  of  modern  literature 
lend  additional  ardor  to  classical  studies.  The  young  blood 
of  modern  literature  has  put  new  life  into  the  literature 
of  the  dead  languages.  That  exquisitely  beautiful  poem, 
Goethe's  Iphigenia  at  Tauris,  has  inseparably  connected  the 
name  of  the  great  German  with  him  whom  Aristotle  calls 
the  most  tragic  of  poets,  and  who  was  Milton's  most  cher- 
ished bard.  The  comparison  between  the  German  and  the 
Greek  gives  a  fresh  charm  to  the  works  of  both.  This 
point  is  admirably  illustrated  in  Hermann's  eloquent  preface 
to  his  edition  of  the  Iphigenia  Taurica  of  Euripides.  That 
most  delicate  and  harmonious  tragic  drama,  the  Ion  of  Mr. 
Talfourd,  —  whose  composition  shed  a  delight  and  a  charm 
over  many  years  of  intense  professional  labor,  —  has  led 
many  a  scholar  back  to  the  beautiful  antique,  from  which 
the  title  and  the  general  subject  were  taken  ;  and  the  ap- 

VOL.  II.  12 


134  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

plause  with  which  this  masterly  reproduction  of  the  classical 
spirit  and  almost  the  antique  form  was  welcomed,  a  few 
years  ago,  was  a  pleasant  indication  of  the  still  existing  love 
of  antique  beauty.  The  majestic  simplicity  of  Milton's 
Samson  Agonistes,  and  its  Dorian  choruses,  forcibly  bring 
to  mind  the  Prometheus  of  ^Eschylus,  and  suggest  very 
instructive  comparisons  between  the  lofty  characters  of  the 
two  poets.  And  who  does  not  feel  that  he  can  better  under- 
stand, and  more  profoundly  appreciate,  the  glorious,  but 
terrible  imagination  of  the  poet  of  Agamemnon,  when  he 
has  once  been  moved  and  agitated  by  the  awful  power  of 
Macbeth ;  when  the  myriad-minded  poet  of  England,  in 
whom  the  genius  of  man  took  its  sublimest  flights,  has  once 
entered  into  and  taken  possession  of  his  soul. 

But  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics  stand  at  the  beginning 
and  at  the  source  of  European  culture.  Nothing  can  dis- 
place them.  Homer  is  the  fountain-head  of  all  European 
poetry  and  art.  There  he  stands,  venerable  with  nearly 
thirty  centuries,  touching  his  heroic  harp  to  strains  of  unsur- 
passed, nay,  unapproachable  excellence  and  grandeur.  All 
the  features  of  a  great  heroic  age,  —  the  chivalry  of  the 
classical  world,  —  from  which  European  civilization  dates, 
and  political  and  domestic  order  take  their  rise,  —  stand 
forth  in  living  reality,  in  his  immortal  pictures.  There  he 
stands,  radiant  with  the  beams  of  the  early  Grecian  morn- 
ing, as  "jocund  day  stands  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain- 
top."  Who  is  to  drive  him  from  his  station  there  ?  And 
how,  then,  is  Homer  to  pass  from  the  memory  and  the 
hearts  of  men  ?  Impossible.  It  is  not  a  question  to  be 
decided  by  a  few  petty  and  short-sighted  utilitarian  views. 
Homer's  reign  is  firmly  established  over  the  literary  world, 
and  if  any  nation  should  ever  become  so  barbarous  as  to 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  135 

banish  him  from  their  schools,  the  penalty  and  disgrace 
would  be  their  own.  The  language  of  Homer,  as  a  pic- 
turesque, melodious,  and  enchanting  instrument  of  thought, 
has  never  been  surpassed. 

Now  these  great  ancients  have  been,  time  out  of  mind, 
the  teachers  of  the  civilized  world.  They  form  a  common 
bond,  which  unites  the  cultivated  minds  of  all  nations  and 
ages  together.  He  who  cuts  himself  off  from  the  classics, 
excludes  himself  from  a  world  of  delightful  associations  with 
the  best  minds.  He  fails  to  become  a  member  of  the  great 
society  of  scholars  ;  he  is  an  alien  from  the  great  commu- 
nity of  letters.  He  may  be  a  learned  man ;  he  may  have 
all  the  treasures  of  science  at  his  command  ;  he  may  speak 
the  modern  languages  with  facility  ;  but  if  he  have  not 
imbued  his  mind  with  at  least  a  tincture  of  classical  taste, 
he  will  inevitably  feel  that  a  great  defect  exists  in  his  intel- 
lectual culture.* 

We  have  said,  that  the  neglect  of  classical  studies  among 
liberally  educated  men  is  less  general  now  than  formerly. 
And  yet  these  pursuits  are  too  often  thrown  aside.  Why 
should  they  be  so  ?  Why  is  classical  study  abandoned  at 
all,  at  the  close  of  the  college  course  ?  Are  there  good 
reasons  for  laying  it  aside  when  one  leaves  the  walls  of  the 
university  ?  The  apology  is  substantially  this.  It  has  no 
immediate  connection  with  practical  life.  Imperative  duty 
is  not  to  be  neglected  for  an  elegant  pastime.  The  lawyer 
and  the  physician  must  direct  their  energies  to  the  business 
on  which  their  living  depends.  The  client  does  not  inquire, 
whether  an  advocate  is  conversant  with  Greek  metres,  or 


*  The  pi-eceding  paragraphs  of  this  Essay  were  written  by  Professor 
Felton,  of  Harvard  College ;  the  remainder  by  Professor  Edwards. 


136  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

can  write  beautiful  Latin.  A  religious  society  seek  for  a 
good  theologian  and  pastor.  They  care  little  for  the  clas- 
sical phrase  of  liis  discourses.  In  other  words,  the  members 
of  the  learned  professions  must  not  diverge  to  the  right  hand 
or  to  the  left.  Even  if  classical  learning  should  be,  in  some 
respects,  connected  with  the  practical  business  of  life,  it  is 
not  so  regarded  by  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  lawyer 
who  is  known  to  possess  a  fine  classical  taste,  is  less  popular, 
other  things  being  equal,  than  his  neighbor  who  is  a  lawyer 
and  nothing  else.  If  he  would  be  much  sought  after  by 
clients,  he  must  not  read  Homer,  unless  by  stealth. 

This  method  of  reasoning,  however,  does  not  seem  to 
accord  with  facts.  Some  of  the  most  successful  men  in  all 
the  professions  have  been  accomplished  classical  scholars, 
pursuing  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages  in  the  midst  of 
exhausting  labors.  A  few  instances  may  be  cited.  Edmund 
Burke  said,  that  Virgil  was  a  book  which  he  always  had 
within  his  reach.  William  Pitt  was  deeply  versed  in  the 
niceties  of  construction  and  peculiarities  of  idiom,  both  in 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages.  It  is  mentioned  of  Curran, 
that,  amid  the  distractions  of  business  and  ambition,  he  was 
all  his  life  returning  with  fresh  delight  to  the  perusal  of  the 
classics.  In  the  last  journey  which  he  ever  took,  Horace 
and  Virgil  were  his  travelling  companions.  The  late  Chief 
Justice  Parsons,  of  Massachusetts,  filling,  perhaps,  the  most 
laborious  office  in  the  State,  always  found  time  to  gratify 
his  classical  taste.  John  Luzac,  an  eminent  professor  of 
Greek  at  Leyden,  spoke  of  him  as  "  a  giant  in  Greek 
criticism."  Robert  Hall,  in  the  most  active  period  of  his 
ministiy,  devoted  several  hours  in  a  day,  for  a  number  of 
years,  to  a  thorough  study  of  the  classics.  He  often  referred 
to  Plato  in  terms  of  fervid  eulogy,  expressing  his  astonish- 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  137 

ment  at  the  neglect  into  which  he  apprehended  the  writings 
of  that  philosopher  were  sinking.  In  our  own  neighborhood, 
an  eminent  lawyer,  constantly  employed  in  the  duties  of  his 
profession,  stands  confessedly  at  the  head  of  American  phi- 
lologists. A  judge,  also,  in  one  of  our  metropolitan  courts, 
whose  practical  duties  are  of  a  very  laborious  nature,  is  a 
profound  and  accui'ate  Greek  scholar. 

Reliance,  however,  in  a  question  of  this  kind,  need  not 
be  placed  exclusively  on  special  cases.  It  may  be  sup- 
ported by  satisfactory  arguments,  at  least  in  relation  to  the 
clerical  profession.  A  book  written  in  Hebrew  and  Greek 
is  their  Magna  Charta,  their  authoritative  commission.  Re- 
sort to  translations  is  as  obviously  improper,  as  it  Vould  be 
for  a  constitutional  lawyer  to  gain  his  knowledge  of  the 
political  institutions  of  the  State  at  second  hand.  A  mastery 
of  the  original  languages  of  the  Bible  was,  probably,  never 
attained  by  any  one,  who  was  not  familiar  with  classical 
Greek.  The  main  element  of  the  New  Testament  is  the 
later  Attic  dialect,  as  modified  by  the  intermingling  of 
words  from  other  languages.  Even  authors  of  the  highest 
name,  in  regard  to  style,  like  Xenophon  and  Pindar,  throw 
much  valuable  light  on  the  Scriptures.  Homer  and  Herod- 
otus remind  the  reader,  in  a  thousand  places,  of  the  sweet 
simplicity  and  childlike  artlessness  which  delight  us  in  the 
narratives  of  the  Pentateuch.  Philo  and  Josephus  are  among 
the  best  helps  for  the  interpretation  of  parts  of  the  Bible. 
A  large  portion  of  the  standard  commentaries  on  the  Scrip- 
tures, from  the  time  of  Jerome  down,  have  been  written  in 
Latin. 

The  direct  benefits  of  classical  study  to  the  medical  and 
legal  student  may  not  be  so  obvious.  The  arguments  which 
the  lawyer  employs,  and  the  observations  which  direct  the 
12* 


138  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

physician's  practice,  are  more  or  less  of  recent  origin. 
Still,  medical  science  first  struck  its  roots  into  Grecian  soil. 
The  fathers  of  the  healing  art  wrote  in  the  Greek  language. 
The  distinguished  physician,  Boerhaave,  who  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  Latin  and  Greek  before  he  was  eleven  years 
old,  was  forcibly  struck,  in  the  course  of  his  subsequent 
reading,  with  the  correct  method  and  sterling  sense  of 
Hippocrates.  An  eminent  American  physician  has  said, 
that  the  best  descriptions  of  the  symptoms  of  disease  are 
found  in  the  Greek  language.  Roman  law  is  the  parent 
and  germ  of  every  code  which  has  been  formed  since.  No 
sovereign,  not  even  Napoleon  himself,  has  done  so  much 
for  the  science  of  law,  as  the  Greek  Emperor  Justinian.  No 
language  contains  so  many  of  the  sources  of  scientific  legis- 
lation as  the  Latin.  It  is  a  treasury  of  facts  and  principles 
down  to  our  day. 

It  may  be  urged,  indeed,  that  there  is  no  necessity  for 
repairing  to  the  original  fountain.  All  that  is  valuable  in 
the  treatises  of  Hippocrates,  or  in  the  rescripts  of  Justinian, 
are  readily  accessible  in  the  modern  languages.  Why  com- 
pel the  student  to  ascend  to  the  little  spring  hidden  under 
the  moss  of  an  old  language,  when  he  can  drink  of  a 
river  that  flows  fast  by  his  own  door,  and  which  has  been 
increased  by  a  thousand  fresh  fountains  ?  A  sufficient 
answer  is,  that  we  cannot  understand  a  subject  with  certainty, 
if  we  do  not  trace  it  to  its  source.  By  the  radical  study  of 
any  topic,  we  come  to  feel  an  assurance  of  belief,  which  is 
one  of  the  best  elements  of  success,  because  it  imparts  to 
the  mind  a  firm  confidence  in  its  own  powers.  It  is  said, 
that  there  are,  in  the  writings  of  Hippocrates,  some  of  the 
finest  descriptions  of  the  natural  course  of  disease,  disturbed 
neither  by  medicine  nor  violent  interference.     Now  these 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  139 

characteristic  touches,  which  ai'e  the  marks  of  genius,  as 
well  as  of  an  accurate  understanding,  cannot  be  enjoyed 
through  a  translation.  The  more  picturesque  they  are,  the 
more  need  of  seeing  the  very  shape  and  coloring  by  which 
they  are  delineated.  So  of  law  and  political  science.  Who 
has  laid  the  best  foundation  for  statesmanship,  —  the  man 
that  has  patiently  studied  Demosthenes,  Thucydides,  and  Po- 
lybius,  in  the  original ;  or  he  whose  knowledge  of  ancient 
Greece  is  made  up  from  Langhorne's  Plutarch,  and  Mitford's 
jaundiced  History  ?  Mere  information  is  not  the  only  thing 
which  is  needed.  There  are  now  American  senators,  whose 
heads  are  crammed  with  encyclopaedias,  but  whose  great, 
ponderous  speeches  have  no  other  effect  than  to  thin  the 
senate-chamber.  A  statesman  needs  that  close,  vivid  ap- 
prehension of  a  principle  or  theory,  which  he  can  get  from 
Thucydides,  but  not  from  Rollin.  In  the  sciences  of  law 
and  medicine,  much  is  depending  on  nice  discrimination  in 
language,  or  exact  definition.  Who  is  so  well  prepared  to 
make  accurate  distinctions  as  he  who  is  versed  in  the 
literature  of  those  languages,  where  the  greater  number  of 
medical  and  political  terms  have  their  origin.? 

Still  more  important  are  the  indirect  benefits  of  classical 
study.  Among  these  are  its  effects  in  securing  complete- 
ness of  character,  both  intellectual  and  moral.  The  powers 
of  the  soul  are  various  in  their  structure,  and  are  developed 
only  by  various  nourishment.  Being  a  bright  image  of  the 
perfect  Mind  that  formed  it,  the  soul  has  susceptibilities  for 
all  things  beautiful  and  sublime  in  nature  and  in  art.  The 
law  graven  on  it  is  violated  whenever  its  affections  are 
hemmed  in  upon  one  dusty  track.  A  man  may  be  so 
absorbed  with  the  cure  of  the  maladies  of  the  body,  or  of 
legislation,  that  a  single  faculty  of  his  mind  attains  an  enor- 


140  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

mous  growth,  while  he  has  no  ear  for  the  music  which 
comes  from  every  part  of  the  visible  creation,  or  those  finer 
strains  uttered  by  every  well-attuned  human  soul. 

An  illustration  of  this  tendency  may  be  drawn  from  the 
clerical  profession.  A  clergyman  may  limit  his  studies  to 
Oriental  literature.  He  may  be  inordinately  fond  of  the 
literary  treasures  of  the  East.  The  poetry  of  the  Hebrews 
is,  undoubtedly,  loftier  than  that  of  any  other  people.  "  The 
sweet  singer  of  Israel  "  is  the  child  of  nature.  Pie  opens 
his  imaginative  soul  to  the  full  impression  of  the  scenes 
around  him.  He  is  fettered  by  no  passion  for  ideal  beauty, 
by  none  of  the  devices  of  rhyme,  metre,  or  fastidious  crit- 
icism. His  song  breaks  out  in  the  stately  rhythm  of  nature. 
All  things  tend  towards  the  sublime.  He  looks  off  from 
Lebanon,  and  sees  the  sun  setting  on  the  level  bosom  of  the 
"  great  sea  and  wide  on  every  hand,"  without  an  interven- 
ing object.  The  same  luminary,  rising  on  a  boundless 
desert  of  sand,  is  one  of  the  grandest  objects  in  nature.  The 
tempest  has  a  terrible  commission  to  execute  there.  In  his 
ideas  of  the  true  God,  also,  the  Hebrew  has,  immeasurably, 
the  superiority  over  the  Greek  and  the  Roman.  By  uni- 
versal consent,  the  passages  which  are  sublimest  in  Greek 
poetry,  are  those  which  make  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
Hebrew  delineations  of  the  Divine  attributes. 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  quality  of  beauty  the  Greek 
has  greatly  the  advantage.  His  language  is  an  exact  copy 
of  himself,  easy,  graceful,  flexible,  fashioned  to  express  the 
subtlest  conceptions,  and  to  charm  the  most  practised  ear  ; 
culivated  till,  as  it  should  seem,  cultivation  could  proceed 
no  further ;  copious  in  its  forms,  perfect  music  in  its  move- 
ment. The  scenery,  too,  of  Greece,  and  the  natural  treas- 
ures which  it  contained,  conspired  to  the  same  end.     "  Five 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  141 

hours'  walk  from  the  plain  of  Marathon,"  says  Dr.  Words- 
worth, "  are  the  naarble  quarries  of  Pentelicus,  inviting,  by 
its  perfect  whiteness  and  splendor,  the  chisel  of  Phidias  and 
Praxiteles.  On  another  side  of  Athens,  ai'e  the  quarries  of 
the  snow-white  Megarian,  and  the  gray  stone  of  Eleusis,  to 
which  Rome  was  indebted  for  some  of  her  best  buildings." 
All  things  tended  to  make  the  Greeks  a  nation  of  artists. 
They  had  the  richest  materials  in  overflowing  abundance, 
the  kindest  sky  for  the  preservation  of  their  works,  and  an 
exquisite  inward  sense  for  fair  proportion  and  beautiful 
forms. 

Now,  have  not  such  things  an  influence  in  training  the 
mind  of  the  theological  scholar  ?  If  he  fails  to  cultivate 
his  original  susceptibilities  for  sweet  sounds  and  delicate 
thoughts,  or,  in  other  words,  if  he  does  not  repair  to  the 
primary  sources  and  true  models  for  instruction,  so  far  will 
his  soul  continue  unformed  and  unsightly.  If  he  cannot 
refresh  his  weary  spirit,  or  unfold  some  of  his  better  facul- 
ties by  classical  culture,  he  should  accept  it  as  a  severe 
misfortune. 

Is  the  study  of  the  modern  tongues  an  equivalent  ?  The 
French  language  has  immense  stores  of  science;  the  Ger- 
man, of  literature.  Paris  is  the  centre  of  medical  knowl- 
edge ;  Berlin  and  Heidelberg,  of  legal.  Still,  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  best  works  in  any  modern  language 
are  fitted,  in  the  highest  degree,  to  educate  the  soul.  How 
different  is  the  impression  which-  is  felt  in  the  perusal  of 
what  are  called  the  classical  works  in  French  and  German, 
from  that  which  is  experienced  while  reading  the  Tusculan 
Questions,  or  the  Phsedo  !  The  difference,  indeed,  is  partly 
owing  to  association.  The  latter  have  the  ancient  coloring 
upon  them.     There  are  a  thousand  time-hallowed  reminis- 


142  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

cences  connected  with  old  Hesiod  and  Homer.  The  modern 
languages  remind  us  of  copyrights,  and  of  the  steam  power- 
press.  Yet  it  is  not  to  be  wholly  ascribed  to  the  mellowing 
effect  of  time.  No  languages  ever  were,  none  ever  will  be, 
polished  like  the  Greek  and  Latin.  There  is  no  similar 
instance  in  the  ancient  world.  No  such  phenomenon  will 
exist  hereafter,  because  all  the  modern  languages  are  neces- 
sarily undergoing  rapid  changes.  The  art  of  printing  is  as 
fatal  to  the  perfection  of  the  outward  form  in  English  or  in 
German,  as  it  is  to  the  faultless  calligraphy  of  the  Persian 
scribe.  Innumerable  causes  are  at  work  to  modify  the 
German,  a  language  which  has  some  close  affinities  to  the 
Greek.  Should  it  cease  to  be,  in  some  of  the  strange  acci- 
dents of  time,  a  spoken  language,  stopped  in  its  mid-career, 
like  a  stream  from  the  Alps  suddenly  congealed  by  the  frost, 
what  motley  forms  would  it  reveal !  How  different  from  the 
two  classical  languages  !  About  these  there  is  a  repose,  a 
sculpture-like  finish,  a  serenity,  to  which  no  modern  dialect 
approaches.  What  a  perfect  correspondence  between  the 
thought  and  the  expression  !  The  writer  does  not  stumble 
on  a  synonyme  or  a  word  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood 
of  that  which  was  needed,  like  most  modern  authors,  but 
hits  the  very  word.  We  feel  that  it  would  be  sacrilege  to 
try  to  change  it  for  anothei'.  In  the  best  Greek  writers,  the 
collocation  of  words  is  wonderfully  felicitous,  not  resulting 
from  the  laws  of  prosody  alone,  but  from  the  musical  soul 
of  the  writer.  The  Italian  is  called  a  beautiful  language, 
but  how  unlike  is  its  monotony  to  the  endless  variety  of  the 
Homeric  hexameter,  or  the  lofty  rhythm  of  the  Platonic 
prose. 

It  is  sometimes  asked,  in  a  sceptical  tone.  Why  this  idol- 
atrous attachment  to  the  classics  ?      Why  do  Latin   and 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  143 

Greek  hold  such  supremacy  over  the  thousand  tongues  of 
earth  ?  It  is  enough  to  answer,  that  the  fact  is  beyond  con- 
tradiction. We  do  not  know  why  the  Egyptian  language 
was  not  more  perfect.  Yet  we  hardly  feel  bound  to  sit 
down  and  study  Coptic  for  the  purpose  of  improving  our 
taste.  It  is  not  known  why  there  have  not  been  more  than 
one  Shakspeare  and  one  Milton.  But,  because  our  attach- 
ment to  these  masters  may  be  called  idolatrous,  ought  we  to 
betake  ourselves  to  Sir  Richard  Blackmore's  Creation  and 
Glover's  Leonidas  ?  Just  so  with  Greek  and  Latin.  They 
happen  to  be  the  only  languages  which  are  developed  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  perfect  art.  Therefore  it  is  the 
wisdom  of  all  public  men,  who  would  mature  their  own 
faculties,  and  labor  worthily  in  their  respective  spheres,  to 
devote  a  little  time  every  day  to  these  ancient  masters  of 
wisdom  and  eloquence. 

The  members  of  the  learned  professions  are  necessarily 
involved  in  wearying  cares.  In  the  whirl  of  business,  or  in 
the  collisions  of  interest,  the  feelings  of  the  heart  are  apt  to 
be  blunted,  and,  though  once  delicate  and  gentle,  to  become 
harsh  and  violent.  Something  is  needed  to  soothe  the  chafed 
spirit.  What  better  resort  than  to  Cicero's  Epistles,  or 
Homer's  Odyssey,  in  order  to  calm  the  troubled  heart,  and 
recall  the  pleasant  days  of  early  youth.  The  very  sight  of 
an  ancient  classic  sometimes  acts  as  a  spell  to  lay  the  irri- 
tated temper.  It  speaks  with  the  voice  of  an  affectionate 
monitor,  full  of  the  words  of  wisdom. 

In  the  strifes  of  various  kinds,  which  all  men  in  public 
life  must  encounter,  more  or  less,  it  is  well  that  there  is  a 
common  ground  on  which  they  can  mingle  in  friendly  inter- 
course. There  is  an  ancient  classical  homestead,  which 
has  not  been  divided  off  among  the  different  heirs.     All  will 


144  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

be  received  back  with  a  joyous  welcome.  All  have  the 
same  right  to  the  fruits  and  flowers.  No  theories  of  gov- 
ernment, no  theological  feuds,  no  small  bickerings,  may- 
find  admission  among  this  happy  gathering.  There  is  a 
binding  influence  even  in  Greek  and  Latin  words.  In  the 
very  midst  of  a  stormy  debate,  a  felicitous  classical  allusion 
will  sometimes  restore  good  humor.  On  the  floor  of  the 
British  Parliament,  a  well-timed  citation  from  Horace  has 
often  been  like  oil  poured  upon  the  troubled  waters.  It 
recalls  to  Whig  and  Tory  the  happy  days  of  Eton  and  of 
Westminster,  or  the  ripening  scholarship  and  joyous  com- 
munion of  later  college  days.  In  a  neighboring  State,  there 
is  a  veteran  statesman  and  scholar,  who  was  fourteen  years 
a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  "  whose  selectest  pleasure 
it  has  been,  for  sixty  years,  to  commune  with  those  immortal 
minds,  who  have  bequeathed  to  the  world  the  richest  treas- 
ures of  thought,  and  the  most  exquisite  models  of  style." 
Who  can  tell  the  worth  of  this  venerable  Nestor,  in  main- 
taining the  decorum  of  a  deliberative  body  ?  The  scenes 
of  wild  turmoil  that  have  so  often  reigned  in  the  lower 
branch,  to  the  shame  of  the  actors  and  the  sorrow  of  the 
country,  were  not  caused,  it  may  be  confidently  affirmed, 
by  the  classical  scholars  in  that  house.  Those  who  daily 
commune  with  the  best  minds  of  antiquity  may,  and  some- 
times do,  diflfer  in  political  opinion,  but  they  have  no  taste 
for  the  coarse  dialect  of  the  low-bred  politician.  The  ver- 
nacular language  is  the  armoiy  to  which  the  demagogue 
resorts.  A  thorough  classical  training,  and  a  continued 
recurrence,  through  life,  to  these  sources  of  refined  feeling 
and  elegant  thought,  give  one  of  the  best  assurances  for  a 
kind  and  gentlemanly  deportment  in  public  men. 

A  happy  influence  is  exerted  by  classical  study  in  another 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  145 

way.  It  is  well  known,  that  our  mental  and  moral  habits 
are  intimately  connected  with  our  style  of  thinking  and  of 
speaking.  Thus  our  sense  of  rectitude  is  very  much  de- 
pendent on  the  accuracy  of  the  language  which  we  employ. 
Confusion  in  speech  leads  to  confusion  in  morals.  Perspi- 
cuity in  diction  is  often  the  parent  of  clear  mental  and  moral 
conceptions.  Hence,  scarcely  any  thing  is  more  important 
in  the  culture  of  the  young,  than  exact  attention  to  the  nicer 
shades  of  thought ;  than  the  ability  to  discriminate  in  respect 
to  all  terms,  (those  relating  to  moral  subjects  particularly,) 
which  are,  in  general,  regarded  as  synonymous.  One  of 
the  chief  benefits  of  classical  study  goes  to  this  very  point. 
It  is  itself  a  process  of  accurate  comparison.  It  is  taking 
the  valuation,  as  it  were,  of  the  whole  stock  of  two  most 
copious  languages.  Some  of  the  principal  authors  use 
words  with  wonderful  precision.  Plato,  for  instance,  defines 
with  microscopic  acuteness.  His  power  of  analysis  was, 
perhaps,  never  equalled.  His  ear  seemed  to  be  so  trained 
as  to  detect  the  slightest  differences  both  in  the  sense  and  in 
the  sound  of  words.  This  is  one  reason  why  no  translation 
can  do  justice  either  to  his  poetic  cadences  or  to  his  thoughts. 
No  one  can  be  familiar  with  such  an  author,  and  really 
perceive  the  fitness  of  his  words,  and  the  truth  of  the  dis- 
tinctions which  they  imply,  without  becoming  himself  a 
more  exact  reasoner  and  a  nicer  judge  of  moral  truth. 
Language,  when  thus  employed,  is  not  a  dead  thing.  It  re- 
acts, with  quickening  power,  on  our  minds  and  hearts. 
When  we  use  words  of  definite  import,  our  intellectual  and 
moral  judgments  will  become  definite.  A  hazy  dialect  is 
the  parent  of  a  hazy  style  of  thinking,  if  it  is  not  of  doubtful 
actions.  The  dishonest  man,  and  the  dishonest  state,  often 
allow  themselves  to  be  imposed  upon  by  a  loose  mode  of 

VOL.    II.  13 


146  CLASSICAL    STUDIES. 

reasoning,  and  a  looser  use  of  language.  Here,  then, 
may  be  drawn  an  argument,  not  unimportant,  in  favor  of 
continued  attention  to  those  finished  models  of  style  and  of 
thought,  which  are  found  in  the  studies  in  question.  They 
nourish  a  delicacy  of  perception,  and  the  sentiments  and 
feelings  gradually  gain  that  crystal  clearness  which  belongs 
to  the  visible  symbols. 

Once  more,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  a  degenerating  process 
has  been  long  going  on  in  our  vernacular  tongue.  There 
is  danger  that  it  will  become  the  dialect  of  conceits,  of 
prettinesses,  of  dashing  coxcombry,  or  of  affected  strength, 
and  of  extravagant  metaphor.  Preachers,  as  well  as  writers, 
appear  to  regard  convulsive  force  as  the  only  quality  of  a 
good  style.  They  seem  to  imagine  that  the  human  heart  is, 
in  all  its  modes,  to  be  carried  by  storm.  Their  aim  is  the 
production  of  immediate  practical  effect.  Hence  there  is  a 
struggle  for  the  boldest  figures  and  the  most  passionate 
oratory.  The  same  tendency  is  seen  in  the  hall  of  legisla- 
tion, and  preeminently  in  much  of  our  popular  literature. 
Passion,  over-statement,  ridiculous  conceits,  the  introduc- 
tion of  terms  that  have  no  citizenship  in  any  language  on 
earth,  a  disregard  of  grammar,  an  affected  smartness, — 
characterize,  to  a  very  melancholy  degree,  our  recent  liter- 
ature. To  be  natural,  is  to  be  antiquated.  To  use  correct 
and  elegant  English,  is  to  plod.  Hesitancy  in  respect  to 
the  adoption  of  some  new-fangled  word,  is  the  sure  sign  of 
a  purist.  Such  writers  as  Addison  and  Swift  are  not  to  be 
mentioned  in  the  ears  of  our  "enterprising"  age.  The 
man,  or  the  woman,  who  should  be  caught  reading  the 
Spectator,  would  be  looked  upon  as  smitten  with  lunacy. 
In  short,  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  our  noble  old  tongue 
is  changing  into  a  dialect  for  traffickers,  magazine-writers, 
and  bedlamites. 


CLASSICAL    STUDIES.  147 

One  way,  by  which  this  acknowledged  evil  may  be  stayed, 
is  a  return  to  such  books  as  Milton,  Dryden,  and  Cowper 
loved  ;  to  such  as  breathed  their  spirit  into  the  best  literature 
of  England ;  to  the  old  historians  and  poets,  that  were 
pondered  over,  from  youth  to  hoary  years,  by  her  noblest 
divines,  philosophers,  and  statesmen.  Eloquence,  both  sec- 
ular and  sacred,  such  as  the  English  world  has  never  listened 
to  elsewhere,  has  flowed  from  minds  that  were  imbued  with 
classical  learning. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.* 


On  the  25th  of  November,  1838,  a  young  lady  died  at 
Ballston,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of 
her  age.  She  seemed  hardly  to  be  a  creature  of  earth,  but 
to  have  wandered  hither  by  accident  from  some  more  blessed 
region  than  ours.  There  were  about  her  a  grace,  a  strange 
purity,  a  sunny  brightness,  which  were  not  so  much  genius, 
as  mind  in  its  freed  state.  We  have  never  heard  or  read  of 
one  of  human  mould,  who  was  more  perfectly  divested  of 
the  grossness  which  appertains  to  our  condition  here.  Yet 
she  possessed  all  the  innocent  feelings  of  humanity.  Never 
did  one  pass  a  blither  childhood.  She  had  not  a  particle  of 
that  acid   melancholy  which  is  sometimes  allied  to  genius. 

The  first  sentence  which  breaks  from  the  lips  of  the 
unreflecting  reader,  on  rising  from  the  contemplation  of  her 
brief  career,  is,  that  such  a  gift  is  not  to  be  coveted.  We 
should  shrink  from  having  aught  to  do  with  one  so  ethereal. 
We  look  with  fear  and  trembling  on  a  flower  which  shows 
its  delicate  petal  in  February.     Give  us  the  hardy  plant  that 

*  An  Address  at  the  Fourth  Anniversary  of  the  Mount  Holyoke 
Female  Seminary,  South  Hadley,  Mass.,  July  29th,  1841. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  149 

can  endure  the  early  frost  and  later  heat.  Intrust  us  with 
the  intellect  which  has  some  alliance  with  earth,  some  fitness 
to  its 'stern  necessities. 

Others,  on  perusing  this  volume,  will  give  us  a  homily  on 
the  imprudence  of  parents  and  teachers.  Her  premature 
death,  they  say,  is  a  warning  which  should  not  be  neglected. 
It  shows  the  imminent  hazard  of  stimulating  the  susceptible 
faculties  to  an  intemperate  and  fatal  growth. 

"  But  we  are  glad  she  has  lived  thus  long, 
And  glad  that  she  has  gone  to  her  reward." 

Her  course  was  ordered  in  perfect  wisdom.  May  she 
not  have  done  that  which  the  longest  career  of  usefulness, 
as  it  is  commonly  termed,  fails  to  do  ?  May  she  not  have 
had  a  sublimer  errand  than  others  have  ?  May  not  her 
brief  sojourn  here  throw  some  light  on  the  mystery  of  our 
nature?  We  gain  a  vivid  idea  of  a  human  soul.  The 
thick  veil  is  for  a  moment  lifted  up.  She  had  the  light  and 
airy  movement  of  a  winged  spirit.  We  seem  to  be  gazing 
on  the  delicate  structure  of  a  seraph  ;  and  yet  she  had  the 
yearning  sympathies  of  a  child  of  earth. 

If  such  is  the  nature  of  mind,  would  be  our  reflection,  it 
is  worth  while  to  educate  it.  If  it  be  capable,  through  the 
goodness  of  Providence  and  the  grace  of  the  Redeemer,  of 
being  clothed  upon  with  such  attractiveness,  then  the  select- 
est  human  agency  should  be  employed  in  aiding  its  develop- 
ment, and  fitting  it  for  its  destiny.  Education  cannot,  indeed, 
create  talent  or  genius  ;  but  it  can  teach  one  to  sympathize 
with  genius.  It  can  elevate  the  mind  into  communion  with 
those  to  whom  God  has  imparted  his  rarest  gifts.  It  can 
raise  all  the  faculties  into  that  condition  of  healthful  excite- 
ment or  serene  repose,  which  will  enable  it  to  appreciate, 
13* 


150  FEMALE    EDUCATION, 

if  it  cannot  reproduce,  the  products  of  more  richly  endowed 
natures. 

It  is  a  frequent  complaint  in  our  books  on  mental  philos- 
ophy, that  we  cannot  examine  the  mind  in  its  unperverted 
state.  It  is  the  mind  of  the  adult  which  we  analyze  ;  filled, 
it  may  be,  with  prejudices,  hardened  by  intercourse  with 
the  world,  and  revealing  but  little  of  its  primeval  guileless- 
ness.  The  intellectual  history  of  a  child  is  needed  in  its 
unsophisticated  state.  In  the  instance  of  Miss  Davidson,  and 
of  her  doubly  sister  spirit,  we  have  that  which  the  philos- 
opher needs,  —  the  inward  life  of  two  children,  a  spark- 
ling freshness  in  their  actions,  a  winning  childlikeness  in 
every  gesture.  They  unconsciously  unfold  those  processes 
of  thought  and  imagination,  which  are  traced  but  faintly,  or 
which  are  a  momentary  gleam,  in  the  minds  of  other  chil- 
dren. 

We  err  much  in  setting  all  these  things  to  the  account  of 
genius,  or  as  mysterious  emanations  from  the  sovereign 
Intellect,  which  it  were  as  vain  to  study,  as  it  were  to  try  to 
grasp  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  We  are  deeply  concerned 
with  them.  They  ennoble  our  common  nature.  They  are 
links  which  ally  us  to  the  pure  spirits  above.  They  prove 
that  the  human  mind  is  a  gem,  whose  value  no  rhetoric  can 
tell.  They  are  an  ample  justification  for  what  we  behold 
to-day.  The  mere  contemplation  of  them  imparts  dignity 
to  the  meanest  adjunct  in  this  work  of  education.  We,  who 
are  teachers,  are  tempted  to  lose  sight  of  our  high  calling, 
to  merge  the  sublime  end  in  the  unhonored  means.  It  is 
a  weary  round  which  we  are  called  to  tread.  We  need 
stimulus  more  than  information,  stirring  motive,  rather  than 
the  accumulation  of  argument.  Eveiy  thing  which  shows 
vividly  the  nature  of  mind,  which  stamps  a  priceless  value 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  151 

on  its  cultivation,  all  those  secret  impulses  which  one  feels, 
but  cannot  describe,  as  he  is  reading  the  pages  of  history  or 
biography  ;  —  all  these  and  similar  things  are  of  inestimable 
worth,  as  encouragements,  as  confirming  the  motives  to 
effort,  and  as  throwing  an  unaccustomed  freshness  on  what 
might  seem,  otherwise,  to  be  servile  and  unremunerated 
toil. 

Nowhere  is  such  encouragement  needed  more  than  in 
female  schools.  Nowhere  are  there  so  many  formidable 
obstacles  to  be  overcome.  In  the  education  of  the  other 
sex,  the  case  does  not  admit  of  argument.  Unless  the 
young  man  has  a  disciplined  mind,  there  is  no  possibility  of 
his  success.  He  must  be  a  hard  student,  or  he  will  never 
attain  his  object.  There  is  no  alternative  between  close 
application  and  a  wretched  failure.  Self-interest  comes  in 
with  a  louder  voice  than  filial  affection.  The  path  before 
him  is  crowded  with  competitors  who  will  never  remit  one 
step.  Thus  the  call  of  ambition  becomes  more  imperative 
than  any  abstract  love  of  knowledge,  any  lofty  ideal  of 
excellence,  any  living  impersonation  of  talent  or  genius. 

But  with  the  female  sex  it  is  not  thus.  To  the  agitations 
of  political  strife  they  are  of  course  strangers.  The  unre- 
laxing  hold  of  self-interest  they  have  never  felt.  Of  the 
power  of  a  stern  necessity,  compelling  them  to  pursue  an 
ample  course  of  study,  they  know  nothing.  These  privi- 
leges or  disadvantages,  as  the  case  may  be,  are  almost  ex- 
clusively confined  to  men. 

It  may  be  said,  however,  that  this  infelicity  in  respect  to 
motives  is  more  than  compensated  by  the  greater  purity  of 
those  which  do  operate.  The  desire  for  usefulness  may  be 
as  powerful  as  all  other  influences  united,  and  this  coincides 
perfectly  with  the  precepts  of  Revelation,  and  the  demands 


152  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

of  conscience.  But,  unhappily,  this  consideration  has  been 
robbed  of  much  of  its  efficacy.  It  has  been  strenuously 
argued,  that  the  usefulness  of  females  is  not  promoted  by  a 
protracted  mental  discipline  ;  that  the  line  of  their  duty  lies 
in  another  direction ;  that  too  much  learning  will  not  make 
them  mad,  but  it  will  make  them  useless  ;  that  their  appro- 
priate sphere  is  not  in  the  range  of  books  and  contempla- 
tion, but  of  active  benevolence,  and  retired,  unceasing  phys- 
ical labor.  The  power  of  the  motive  has  thus  been  broken. 
Suspicion  has  been  cast  upon  vigorous  intellectual  exertions. 
A  literary  woman  has 'been  made  the  butt  of  ridicule,  as 
though  learning  and  a  conscientious  attention  to  practical 
duties  were  incompatible. 

It  has  long  been  a  favorite  topic  for  discussion  with  young 
men,  whether  the  intellectual  powers  of  the  two  sexes  are 
equal.  This  is  among  the  first  and  weightiest  questions 
which  the  village  lyceum  argues.  It  is  regularly  propouzided 
in  the  academy.  Its  merits  are  diligently  canvassed  by 
every  Freshman  class  in  college,  unless,  indeed,  the  youth- 
ful collegian  has  recently  become  wiser  than  his  predeces- 
sors. 

But  all  these  greedy  disputants  seem  to  have  forgotten, 
that  there  is  little  fairness  in  the  question.  We  know 
nothing  of  mind,  but  from  its  developments.  We  cannot 
judge  of  the  original  abstract  strength  of  intellect.  Its  man.' 
ifestations  are  the  only  means  by  which  we  can  form  a 
judgment ;  and  these  will  be  made  only  as  there  is  oppor- 
tunity. Mind  will  be  dormant  unless  there  is  motive  to 
awaken  it.  But  in  respect  to  females,  motives  have  never 
yet  existed,  to  any  considerable  extent.  Long-continned 
attention  to  literary  and  scientific  pursuits  has  been  dis- 
couraged.    What  they  have  done  has  been  by  stealth,  by 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  153 

accident,  at  short  intervals.  Those  who  acquire  distinction 
in  the  fields  of  knowledge  are  gazed  upon  as  prodigies  ;  and 
it  is  a  wonder  if  men,  in  the  height  of  their  candor,  do  not 
attach  some  opprobrious  epithet  to  them.  But  how  is  it 
possible  that  they  should  be  other  than  prodigies  ?  There 
is  no  expectation  that  the  intellectual  powers  of  the  sex  will 
be  generally  and  highly  cultivated.  Public  opinion  has  not 
demanded  it.  It  has  rather  frowned  it  down.  Men,  in 
great  numbers,  have  become  distinguished  in  every  branch 
of  knowledge.  But  this  was  owing,  in  no  slight  measure, 
to  the  fact  that  their  learning  could  be  appreciated  and 
honored.  False  pretensions  would  be  certainly  exposed. 
A  sympathizing  community  are  ready  to  applaud  and  to 
employ  their  acquisitions.  But  with  the  other  sex  it  has 
been  widely  different.  No  fostering  public  sentiment  has 
encouraged  them.  Their  delicacy  has  shrunk  from  that 
dishonored  notoriety  which  is  the  result  of  eminence.  Their 
original  powers  may  be,  or  may  not  be,  equal  to  those  of 
men.'  We  have  little  disposition  to  pronounce  on  this  ques- 
tion. But  there  has  been  as  yet  no  fair  opportunity  to  de- 
cide it.  High  mental  cultivation  has  been  insulated  and 
rare.  Men  are  stimulated  to  effort  by  a  thousand  influences 
to  which  women  are  strangers.  One  generation  act  on 
another.  A  flood  of  intellectual  light  has  been  poured  on 
their  path  from  the  remotest  ages.  They  could  hardly 
help  being  enlightened,  whether  they  would  or  not.  But 
with  females  it  has  rather  been  darkness  visible.  Their 
course  you  can  trace  back,  as  that  of  a  river,  when  the 
morning  fog  is  on  its  banks,  while  the  sunlight  is  bathing 
the  adjacent  hills.  What  a  stimulus  do  men  feel  in  look- 
ing away  on  those  illuminated  points  for  four  thousand 
years  ?     What  untold  influences  does  not  this  exert,  at  the 


154  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

present  moment,  in  their  intellectual  discipline  ?  But  how 
totally  the  reverse  is  it  with  females  ?  Their  motives  must 
arise  from  an  opposite  quarter,  —  from  a  desire  to  rescue 
their  sex  from  the  thraldom  of  centuries,  and  to  create  those 
things  which  shall  serve  as  happy  reminiscences,  and  con- 
trolling motives,  rather  than  passively  to  rely  on  the  glori- 
ous recollections  of  the  past. 

Let  us  see  if  it  is  not  thus.  Let  us  look  for  a  moment 
into  the  page  of  history.  And  here,  at  the  beginning,  we 
would  exclude  the  whole  uncivilized  and  Muhammedan 
world.  Much,  indeed,  is  said  of  the  degradation  of  females 
in  those  regions.  But  we  should  prefer  their  condition  to 
that  of  their  masters.  The  lot  of  the  sufferer  is  to  be  en- 
vied, more  than  that  of  the  taskmaster.  It  is  better  to  be 
the  unresisting  victim  of  violence,  than  to  brandish  the  rod 
of  a  despot,  or  revel  in  the  gains  of  the  outlaw.  The  poor, 
trembling  drudge,  who  waits  upon  the  desires  of  the  haughty 
sheikh  of  the  desert,  or  she  who  plants  the  cornfield  in  one 
of  our  primeval  forests,  may  have  as  much  mind  as  the 
owner  of  a  dozen  starved  camels  has ;  or  as  he  who  slum- 
bers half  his  days  in  his  wigwam,  and  is  the  comrade  of  the 
trout  or  the  wild  buffalo  the  other  half.  Both  sexes  are  at 
the  lowest  point  of  degradation.  The  simple  difference  is, 
that  one  are  the  greatest  sinners,  the  other  the  greatest  suf- 
ferers. 

The  Israelites  are  the  only  ancient  nation  where  we  can 
find  much  which  relieves  the  dark  picture.  There  was  a 
delicacy  and  a  greatness  of  soul  among  some  of  the  females, 
which  was  not  to  be  found  in  any  other  Asiatic  nation,  and 
which  were  the  result  of  their  religious  institutions.  "  Honor 
thy  motlier ,''''  was  the  authoritative  command,  which  contrib- 
uted, perhaps,  more  than  any  other  one  thing  to  dignify  the 


FEMALE    EDUCATION,  155 

female  sex,  and  to  make  a  family  among  the  Jews  a  different 
circle  fi'om  what  was  seen  under  a  Kurdish  black  tent,  or 
in  a  South- African  kraal.  Still  the  education  of  the  Jewish 
female  was  very  limited.  As  the  father  was  the  sole  in- 
structor of  the  son,  so  the  mother  was  the  only  teacher 
of  her  daughter.  Music  and  dancing,  with  instruction  in 
household  affairs,  was  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  countrywomen  of  Miriam  and  Deborah. 

When  we  go  over  to  Greece,  —  polished,  beautiful,  mu- 
sical Greece,  —  there  is  hardly  any  thing  which  distinguishes 
the  women  from  those  of  the  hordes  of  Scythia  or  Sarmatia. 
The  Dorians  were  the  only  tribe,  who  made  any  serious 
attempt  to  develop  the  understanding  of  females.  But  this 
was  at  the  sacrifice  of  individual  character.  The  Spartan 
women  were  trained  for  the  state.  They  were  educated 
to  be  the  mothers  and  sisters  of  military  heroes.  Bravery, 
an  Indian  stoicism,  the  ability  to  endure  suffering  in  its  fier- 
cest forms,  was  the  end  of  their  being  even  from  the  cradle. 
The  inexoi-able  lawgiver  required  that  the  female,  as  well 
as  the  male,  should  engage  in  bodily  exercise  ;  and  for  both 
he  instituted  trials  of  running  and  of  strength.  A  martial 
character  was  imparted  to  the  entire  race.  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact,  that  in  no  kind  of  Greek  poetry  have  we  so  many 
female  authors  as  in  the  lyric,  where  the  military  spirit  pre- 
dominates ;  and  these  authors  belonged  to  Sparta,  or  to  the 
Doric  race.* 

The  rest  of  the  Greeks,  says  Xenophon,  required  females 
to  sit  solitary  and  spin  wool.  The  great  majority  of  them 
lived  a  secluded  life,  scarcely  differing  from  the  slaves  by 

*  See  Cramer,  Geschichte  der  Erziehung,  etc.  Elberfeld,  1838. 
2  vols.     Vol.  II.  p.  444. 


156  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

whom  they  were  surrounded,  both  classes  alike  ignorant 
and  superstitious.  A  few  individuals,  indeed,  rose  above 
this  dead  level  of  debasement.  Socrates  did  something  in 
this  work  of  salutary  reform.  Plato  proceeded  still  further, 
and  gave  females  an  active  share  in  the  business  of  the 
state,  though  not  in  its  higher  departments.  Lasthenia  and 
Axiothea  are  expressly  mentioned  as  among  the  hearers  of 
Plato.  Their  philosophical  education  was  completed  under 
Speusippus.  But  these  instances  were  very  rare,  and  they 
were  more  likely  to  be  found  among  the  slaves  than  the 
free-women.  Some  of  them,  too,  like  the  friend  of  Pericles, 
suffered  in  morals,  in  proportion  to  their  reputation  for  intel- 
lectual accomplishments.  A  striking  fact  in  proof  of  the 
obscurity  of  Grecian  women  is  the  very  small  number  whose 
names  are  mentioned  in  history.  There  are  Penelope, 
Helen,  Nausicaa,  Aspasia,  Sappho,  and  a  kw  others,  whose 
deeds  or  writings  entitled  them,  in  the  view  of  the  historian 
or  the  poet,  to  an  honorable  place.  But  the  great  mass, 
almost  without  exception,  lived  in  deplorable  ignorance  ;  and 
that  too  in  Greece,  under  the  climate  of  Paradise,  in  sight 
of  the  Parthenon,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ilissus,  in  the  walks 
of  the  Academy.  These  were  the  countrywomen  of  Xen- 
ophon,  Pericles,  Plato,  and  yEschylus.  The  female  form 
was  sculptured  in  such  lines  of  beauty  and  grace,  as  were 
never  rivalled  before  or  since.  When  some  Helen  or  Ve- 
nus was  the  subject,  the  artist  dipped  his  pencil  for  eternity. 
Yet  the  living  and  breathing  form  was  utterly  neglected. 
The  minds  of  thousands  of  freeborn  women  in  Athens, 
made  to  live  when  the  solid  Parthenon  shall  have  crum- 
bled to  dust,  received  less  attention  than  a  chiselled  ape  ; 
occasioned  less  solicitude  than  the  picture  of  a  swan,  or 
the  proportion  of  a  cornice.     What  was  Socrates  doing  ? 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  157 

Why  was  not  the  divine  Plato  more  sagacious  ?  While  he 
was  writing  his  Republic,  and  speculating  nobly  on  his  pre- 
existent  ideas,  his  countrywomen  were  perishing  by  thou- 
sands around  the  very  groves  where  he  was  discoursing. 
Why  did  he  not  see  that  his  native  land  could  not  continue 
to  exist,  while  one  half  of  its  free  population  were  in  the  iron 
bonds  of  ignorance  ?  Why  did  not  the  practical  Aristotle 
arouse  his  countrymen  to  this  fatal  deficiency  ^  No  system 
of  politics  or  ethics  would  be  of  any  avail  in  the  absence  of 
female  education.  The  country  must  sink  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Roman  or  the  Scythian,  if  those  who  ought  to 
have  been  its  educators  were  themselves  in  the  blackness  of 
darkness. 

We  turn  to  the  Romans  with  some  more  comfort.  They 
made  a  decided  advance  towards  a  more  perfect  civiliza- 
tion, partly  by  attaching  importance  to  the  female  sex. 
Among  the  Romans  we  find  an  increase  of  domestic  felicity. 
The  family  becomes  an  important  element  in  society.  The 
Grecian  women,  like  Briseis  and  Helen,  were  often  the 
cause  of  quarrels  and  wars.  The  Roman  matrons,  on  the 
other  hand,  frequently  deserved  the  blessing  of  peacemak- 
ers. They  prevented  the  horrors  of  civil  strife,  and  saved 
Rome  itself  from  pillage.  We  linger  fondly  over  the  mem- 
ories of  Lucretia  and  Cornelia,*  not  merely  on  account  of 
their  individual  virtues,  but  because  they  were  the  repre- 
sentatives of  a  considerable  class.  From  the  turbulence  of 
the  forum,  from  the  discordant  sounds  of  the  market-place, 
the  senator  could  retire  to  a  secluded  and  quiet  home.  Even 
in  later  periods,  when  Roman  virtue  had  sadly  degenerated, 

*  "  Legimus  epistolas  Comelise,  matris  Gracchorum :  apparet,  filios 
non  tam  in  gremio  educatos,  quam  in  sermone  matris." —  Cicero,  Brut. 
58. 

VOL.  IT.  14 


158  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

we  meet  with  a  few  touching  instances  of  pure  domestic 
happiness,  as  recorded  in  the  pages  of  Quinctilian,  Cicero, 
and  Pliny.  When  death  invaded  these  scenes  of  bUss,  as 
he  did  some  of  them  in  circumstances  uncommonly  affect- 
ing, we  cannot  but  ardently  wish  that  the  balm  of  Chris- 
tian hope  had  been  poured  into  the  torn  bosoms  of  the 
almost  frantic  survivors. 

Still  the  Roman  women  were  not  educated.  The  domes- 
tic and  other  virtues  to  which  we  have  alluded,  were  not 
the  result  of  mental  cultivation.  This  will  account  in  part 
for  their  comparatively  limited  extent  and  early  decay. 
They  were  not  rooted  and  grounded  in  a  good  moral  and 
intellectual  training.  There  was  nothing  in  them  which 
could  meet  the  storms  that  overwhelmed  the  Roman  State. 
Among  the  mass  of  the  matrons,  there  was  no  conservative 
influence  either  from  Christianity  or  a  sound  education. 
Prejudices  existed  against  high  attainments  in  learning  on 
the  part  of  females,  if  we  may  credit  the  Roman  satirists.* 

In  the  intellectual  condition  of  females  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
we  find  little  which  is  encouraging.  It  is  true,  that  at  one 
period  they  were  the  arbiters  of  taste  and  fashion.  Of  the 
laws  of  honor  they  were  the  despotic  judges.  But  this  was 
an  unnatural  state  of  society.  Many  of  the  high-born  dames, 
that  were  worshipped  at  tilts  and  tourneys,  could  not  read. 

*  "  Sit  non  doctissima  conjux,"  Martial,  II.  90,  makes  as  a  condition 
in  marriage. 

"  Non  habeat  matrona,  tibi  quJE  juncta  recumbit, 
Dicendi  genus,  aut  curvum  serraone  rotato 
Torqueat  enthymema,  nee  historas  sciat  omnes: 
Sed  qu£edam  ex  libris  et  non  intelligat." 

Juv.  VI.  448. 
See  Gallus ;  Eomische  Scenenaus  der  Zeit  Augustus.  Von  Becker,  1. 53. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  159 

Their  moral  education  was  totally  neglected,  and  the  entire 
number  of  those  who  figured  in  the  exploits  of  chivalry,  were 
insignificant  compared  with  the  millions  who  were  in  the 
thickest  gloom  of  error. 

We  are  accustomed  to  look  to  the  age  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, as  hallowed  by  a  bright  constellation  of  female  genius. 
It  was  so.  Lady  Jane  Grey,  Anne  Bacon,  the  mother  of 
the  Chancellor,  Mildred  Burleigh,  Margaret  Beaufort,  the 
proud  Queen  herself,  and  others,  who,  according  to  Wotton, 
seemed  to  think  that  Plato  and  Aristotle  untranslated  were  fit 
companions  to  their  closets,  are  names  that  shall  never  die. 
Amid  bloody  wars,  diabolical  assassinations,  and  the  mean- 
est court  intrigues  which  deform  the  pages  of  English  his- 
tory, these  furnish  a  grateful  digression ;  they  make  one 
page  of  that  histor)^  pure  and  fragrant.  But  they  are  like 
half  a  dozen  stars  in  a  cloudy  night.  Their  countrywomen 
generally  were  as  ignorant  of  letters  as  the  animals  which 
they  rode  to  market.  To  them  books  were,  both  literary 
and  metaphorically,  chained.  If  they  could  read,  they 
were  not  able  to  procure  books.  One  favored  countess,  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  gave,  among  other  things,  two  hun- 
dred sheep,  for  a  copy  of  a  single  volume  of  homilies. 
While  Bacon  was  writing  his  Organon,  while  his  mother 
and  her  sister  were  enraptured  with  the  eloquence  of  the 
Phsedo,  drinking  in  those  musical  sentences  which  are  al- 
most quivering  with  life,  the  vast  majority  of  their  coun- 
trywomen were  living  in  cabins  without  chimneys,  as  igno- 
rant almost  of  the  immaterial  principle  within  them,  as  was 
the  dog  that  crouched  beneath  their  feet,  or  the  rude  spin- 
ning-wheel which  their  hands  were  turning;. 

In  modern  Europe  we  find  important  changes.  In  the 
gradual  amelioration  of  society,  females  have  necessarily 


160  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

shared.  If  schools  had  been  wholly  confined  to  men,  they 
would  have  partaken  indirectly,  but  largely,  of  their  bene- 
fits. The  son  and  the  brother  cannot  receive  a  liberal  edu- 
cation, without  shedding  on  the  circle  at  home  some  rays  of 
knowledge.  The  general  intelligence  which  prevails,  and 
the  rapid  communication  of  thought  over  all  civilized  coun- 
tries, must  exert  some  influence  on  every  class  in  society. 
No  portion  could  avoid  receiving  a  few  rays  of  light,  if  they 
would.  To  these  negative  influences,  we  must  add  some 
direct  exertions  which  have  been  made  for  the  education  of 
women.  In  the  comprehensive  school-systems,  which  char- 
acterize three  or  four  of  the  most  enlightened  countries  of 
Christendom,  they  have  not  been  passed  by.  In  the  bless- 
ings of  the  common  school,  particularly,  they  have  bounti- 
fully partaken. 

Still  there  are  serious  deficiencies.  In  no  country  of 
Europe  has  any  adequate  provision  been  made  for  their 
higher  education.  The  means  for  their  intellectual  disci- 
pline are  altogether  inferior  to  those  which  the  more  favored 
sex  enjoy.  Public  sentiment  is  not  by  any  means  awake  to 
the  importance  of  giving  to  females  a  thorough  intellectual 
training. 

We  may  take  Germany  as  an  example.  The  facilities 
for  the  education  of  men,  in  the  schools,  gymnasia,  univer- 
sities, and  professional  seminaries,  are,  as  is  well  known,  of 
the  highest  order.  But  there  are  no  such  provisions  for 
the  complete  education  of  females.  On  the  contrary,  we 
are  assured,  that  such  education  is  not  regarded  as  neces- 
sary. In  the  lighter  branches  of  knowledge,  in  those  stud- 
ies which  develop  the  imagination  and  refine  the  taste,  not 
a  few  of  the  German  women  ai'e,  doubtless,  accomplished. 
But  any  thing  which  deserves  the  name  of  liberal  educa- 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  161 

tion,  they  do  not  in  general  possess.  Those  studies  which 
strengthen  the  practical  faculties,  which  give  maturity  to 
the  understanding,  and  which  lay  a  firm  basis  for  character, 
are  greatly  undervalued  ;  even  if  means  for  pursuing  them 
are  furnished.  The  wretched  prejudice  against  a  learned 
lady,  recognized  by  Martial,  and  which  has  given  occasion 
for  many  poor  witticisms,  is  not  wholly  banished,  we  fear, 
from  the  polite  and  learned  circles  of  Berlin  and  Got- 
tingen. 

Of  the  history  of  female  education  in  our  own  country, 
we  have  but  little  to  say.  Our  emigrant  forefathers  were 
too  poor  to  educate  their  daughters.  Some  of  the  more 
favored  families  in  the  large  towns  had  recourse  to  the 
schools  or  domestic  teachers  of  the  old  country.  Some 
respectable  private  or  family  schools  were  subsequently 
established  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  whither  a  few  individuals 
from  the  inland  towns  had  the  privilege  of  resorting.  The 
daughters  of  clergymen,  by  journeying  one  or  two  hundred 
miles  on  horseback,  were  enabled  to  avail  themselves  of 
these  precious  opportunities.  But  the  women  of  New  Eng- 
land, up  to  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  were  indebt- 
ed, as  a  general  thing,  to  the  district  school  merely,  for 
their  scanty  education.  Their  attendance,  in  multitudes  of 
cases,  was  limited  to  three  or  four  months  of  the  year ; 
while  these  poor  advantages  could  be  enjoyed  only  in  com- 
mon with  fifty  or  a  hundred  other  persons,  and  after  a  labo- 
rious walk  of  three  or  four  miles,  often  through  rain  or  snow. 
A  delineation  of  these  disabilities,  we  have  heard  from  the 
lips  of  many  persons  of  the  last  generation.  Improvements, 
which  might  have  been  gradually  introduced,  were  suspend- 
ed, or  prevented,  by  the  French  and  the  Revolutionary  wars. 
The  busy  household  were  manufacturing  blankets  for  their 
14* 


162  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

brothers  at  Louisburg  and  Crown  Point,  or  making  bread  for 
the  camp  at  Cambridge  or  Saratoga. 

Since  the  Revolution,  and  especially  during  the  present 
century,  considerable  advance  has  been  made.  The  acad- 
emies in  some  of  the  larger  towns  have  been  of  inestimable 
service  to  those  families  that  had  the  means  of  defraying 
the  expense.  In  many  cases,  the  winter,  central  school  in  a 
town  has  been  taught  by  some  one  who  was  master  of  the 
higher  branches  of  education.  The  names  of  a  few  individ- 
uals ought  ever  to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance,  for 
exciting  a  new  interest  in  favor  of  female  education.  Some 
of  the  schools,  which  they  founded,  exist  to  the  present 
time.  Others,  which  have  been  discontinued,  doubtless  pre- 
pai'ed  the  way  for  more  permanent  undertakings. 

While,  therefore,  we  accord  to  our  fathers,  and  to  the 
estimable  teachers  of  our  own  day,  to  whom  we  have  just 
referred,  all  due  praise,  we  cannot  be  blind  to  the  mournful 
deficiencies  which  continued  to  exist,  and  which  now,  in  a 
great  measure,  remain. 

It  has  been  always  observed,  that  the  small  girls  in  a  pri- 
maiy  school,  as  a  general  thing,  have  more  active  minds 
than  the  other  sex  ;  are  in  advance  of  their  male  associates 
in  the  same  class.  In  a  few  years,  however,  the  order  is 
reversed.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  years,  the  lads 
have  gained  upon  the  other  portion  of  the  school  in  almost 
every  thing  which  constitutes  a  solid  education.  This  change 
has  been  accounted  for  in  various  ways.  One  of  the  causes 
may  be  the  want  of  thorough  habits  in  many  of  the  teachers 
of  young  ladies.  The  lad  is  drilled.  His  tasks  are  urged 
upon  him  without  fear  or  favor.  No  allowance  is  made  for 
delicate  nerves,  shrinking  modesty,  or  any  like  thing.  He 
is  compelled  to  master  his  lessons.     But  in  the  recitations 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  163 

of  girls  above  a  certain  age,  there  is  a  species  of  politeness^ 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  which  is  carried  to  excess.  The 
modesty  of  the  pupil  is  too  much  consulted.  Her  mind  is 
not  invigorated  by  that  somewhat  rough  treatment  with 
which  her  brother  may  be  visited. 

Another  reason  is  the  inequality  in  the  literary  advan- 
tages of  the  two  sexes.  After  a  certain  period,  there  is  a 
wide  divergency.  The  intellectual  privileges  of  young 
ladies  have  borne  no  suitable  proportion  to  those  enjoyed 
by  the  youth  in  our  colleges  and  professional  schools.  If 
they  have  had  facilities  for  instruction,  it  has  been  only  at 
intervals  ;  and  then  one  third  of  the  time  has  been  consumed 
in  recovering  the  ground  which  had  been  lost.  The  entire 
circle  of  arts  and  sciences  is,  perhaps,  traversed  ;  but  it 
has  been,  too  often,  with  little  practical  effect.  One  great 
end  of  education  is  the  formation  of  a  well-balanced  intel- 
lectual character;  but  to  render  this  possible,  two  things  are 
necessary,  —  thorough  study,  and  attention  to  a  sufficient 
number  of  branches  to  meet  the  peculiar  wants  of  each 
power  of  the  mind.  But  such  a  result  cannot  be  expect- 
ed from  the  recitations  of  six  or  twelve  months,  scattered 
through  several  years.  The  harvest  will  be  in  proportion 
to  the  labor  bestowed  in  preparing  the  ground. 

It  is  on  these  accounts  that  we  rejoice  in  the  establish- 
ment of  seminaries  like  the  one  whose  anniversary  we  cele- 
brate to-day.  It  is  meeting,  as  it  has  long  seemed  to  us, 
one  great  want  of  the  times.  It  is  concentrating  influences 
which  had  been  pi'cviously  scattered,  and  but  of  little  avail. 
We  do  not  now  speak  of  the  details  of  the  plan  which  has 
been  adopted  here.  There  may  be  imperfections  in  these. 
What  we  mean  is,  that  the  undertaking,  as  a  whole,  appears 
to  us  to  be  based  on  a  true  and  enduring  foundation,  and  to 


164  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

promise  that  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  discipline  of  the 
young  women  of  our  country,  which  has  long  been  the  great 
desideratum. 

In  illustrating  this  position,  we  remark  : 

I.  That  such  seminaries  attach  the  idea  of  permanence 
to  the  education  of  females. 

Hitherto  schools  for  young  women  have  been  connected 
with  buildings  fitted  to  produce  no  one  definite  impression, 
unless  it  be,  that  they  are  equally  adapted  to  a  hundred  dif- 
ferent purposes.  On  entering  them,  the  pupil  feels  nothing 
of  the  genius  of  the  place.  There  are  no  affecting  remi- 
niscences, no  venerable  associations.  The  edifice  was  ten 
years  ago  a  tavern,  it  may  be  ten  years  hence  a  cotton- 
manufactory. 

There  are  those  who  object  to  the  erection  of  halls  of 
study  for  the  use  of  colleges.  They  would  disperse  the  un- 
dergraduates among  the  houses  of  the  neighboring  village. 
They  would  advocate  the  plan  which  has  been  generally 
adopted  in  Germany,  where  the  university  has  no  "  local 
habitation." 

But,  as  it  seems  to  us,  they  overlook  a  point  of  great  im- 
portance. A  college  without  a  building  is  a  flitting  ghost 
without  a  body.  The  building  embodies  and  enshrines  the 
wandering  idea.  It  gives  form  and  an  earthly  immortality 
to  a  thousand  associations  otherwise  evanescent.  Were  we 
going  to  study  in  Germany,  we  should  prefer,  other  things 
being  equal,  the  University  of  Bonn,  partly  because  it  is 
situated  among  the  vine-clad  hills  of  the  Rhine,  but  mainly 
because  its  site  is  an  old  palace,  with  its  gray  and  venerable 
towers  and  gateways. 

An  edifice,  in  such  circumstances,  is  not  a  mass  of  stone, 
or  of  brick  and  mortar.     Its  cold  face  is  instinct  with  life. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  165 

It  becomes  a  living  teacher,  giving  lessons  profounder  in 
their  impression,  sublimer  in  their  unity,  than  the  most  ac- 
complished professor  could  dictate.  The  pyramid,  which 
lifts  its  firm  head  among  the  shifting  sands  of  the  desert,  is 
an  instructor  more  impressive  than  all  the  Egyptian  magi 
from  the  first  Pharaoh  downvv'ards.  It  is  the  fixedness  of 
eternity  amid  the  accidents  of  time.  The  layers  of  granite, 
which  are  now  weekly  lifted  up  on  Bunker  Hill,  will  convey 
one  great  lesson,  till  some  earthquake  topples  them  over. 

The  United  States  Bank  at  Philadelphia,  in  its  severe  sim- 
plicity, it  has  been  said,  is  the  best  teacher  of  rhetoric,  if  it 
is  not  of  financiering,  which  is  to  be  found  in  our  country. 
No  one  can  gaze  on  the  gateway  of  the  Girard  College  in 
the  same  city,  without  feeling  that  there  is  no  treatise  on 
architecture  which  can  claim  rivalship  with  it.  If  the  poor 
orphans  were  to  study  that  science  only,  the  millions  lav- 
ished on  the  building  would  have  been  well  expended.  In 
this  way,  the  dull  rock  becomes  a  Mentor ;  the  dead  brick 
cries  out  from  the  wall ;  the  iron  finger  at  the  top  of  the 
steeple  has  nerves  and  sinews. 

We  are  glad  that  another  of  these  speechless  yet  eloquent 
teachers  has  taken  his  place  on  the  banks  of  the  Connect- 
icut. We  hope  he  will  maintain  it  for  ages.  The  solitary 
boatman  on  the  river,  as  he  launches  his  little  skiff  out  of 
the  Canadian  forest,  is  quickly  reminded,  on  either  hand, 
that  the  invisible  God  is  publicly  adored.  Soon  the  temple 
of  science,  on  a  picturesque  little  plain,  as  if  inclosed  "  out 
of  the  world's  wide  wilderness,"  shows  him  that  he  is  ad- 
vancing into  a  region  of  high  civilization.  Descending  a 
few  hours  more,  a  modest  pile  of  stones  is  a  remembrancer 
to  him  alike  of  Indian  prowess,  and  of  the  spot  where  sleeps 
the  flower  of  the  county  of  Essex.     Then,  in  the  broad  ex- 


166  FEMALE   EDUCATION. 

panse  of  the  valley,  "  where  the  river  glideth  at  its  own 
sweet  will,"  rise  up  other  noble  structures,  whose  fame, 
we  hope,  will  grow  greener  from  age  to  age.  Hardly  has 
he  passed  that  solitary  monument  not  made  with  hands, 
standing  from  century  to  century,  as  a  faithful  sentinel  over 
a  garden  which  is  richer  than  the  fabled  Hesperides',  when 
his  eyes  are  again  saluted  with  another  goodly  structure, 
designed  to  train  up  the  living  and  fragrant  flowers,  not  of 
the  county  of  Essex  merely,  but  of  our  common  country. 

A  subject  vitally  important  to  the  well-being  of  our  land 
has  now  a  permanent  representative,  a  tangible,  living  im- 
personation, not  dependent  on  a  single  human  life,  but  to 
last  while  the  river  flows,  and  the  guardian  mountains  reach 
towards  it  their  aged  arms.  We  are  surrounded  by  signs, 
not  to  be  mistaken,  that  the  education  of  our  dear  country- 
women requires  time,  system,  well-considered  and  well- 
directed  effort. 

II.  Permanent  female  institutions  will  furnish  opportunity 
to  prosecute  certain  studies,  which  have  hitherto  been  at- 
tended with  but  little  practical  advantage. 

One  of  these  studies  is  Mental  Philosophy.  Its  impor- 
tance it  is  hardly  possible  to  exaggerate.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  ability  to  write  well  implies  every  thing  else.  The 
man  who  holds  an  effective  pen  has,  necessarily,  a  logical 
understanding,  disciplined  taste,  resources  of  knowledge, 
the  power  to  illustrate,  and  a  ready  command  of  language. 
Thus  it  is  with  him  who  is  familiar  with  the  structure  of  his 
mind.  He  has  the  habit  of  patient  attention.  He  knows 
the  uses  of  his  various  intellectual  faculties.  No  study  so 
much  combines  the  advantages  of  all  others.  It  is  theoreti- 
cal and  practical,  equally  conversant  with  the  iron  links  of 
logic  and  the  sunniest  flowers  of  rhetoric.     It  gives  one  the 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  167 

nicest  tact  in  the  use  of  language,  while  it  teaches  him  that 
the  aptest  and  most  cunning  words  are  no  equivalent  for 
massive  thought. 

A  good  definition  of  a  complete  education  is  this  :  It  gives 
one  the  power  to  meet  any  exigency  in  the  line  of  his 
profession  ;  extent  and  exactness  of  knowledge  ;  prompti- 
tude and  pertinency  in  the  use  of  it.  So  of  a  thorough  and 
comprehensive  acquaintance  with  mental  science.  It  fits 
him  for  all  conceivable  emergencies.  It  supplies  resources 
which  a  thousand  calls  of  duty  cannot  exhaust,  because  he 
is  always  acquiring  and  classifying  knowledge  ;  while,  in 
the  application  of  it,  he  has  an  infallible  guide  in  his  sound 
judgment  and  correct  taste. 

The  value  of  the  study  for  men  has  never  been  denied. 
It  forms  an  indispensable  part  of  every  complete  and  incom- 
plete course  of  education.  In  some  form  or  another,  it  is 
taught  in  every  high  school,  college,  and  professional  insti- 
tution. But  is  it  not  of  equal  value  in  the  intellectual  disci- 
pline of  females  ?  Is  it  not  fitted  to  their  circumstances 
more  perfectly  than  any  other  study  .'' 

Mrs.  Hemans,  speaking  of  Carlyle's  criticism  on  the  poet 
Burns,  says,  "  Carlyle  certainly  gives  us  a  great  deal  of 
'  bark  and  steel  for  the  mind.'  I,  at  least,  found  it  in  sev- 
eral passages  ;  but  I  fear  that  a  woman's  mind  never  can 
be  able,  and  never  was  formed  to  attain  that  suflficiency  to 
itself,  which  seems  to  lie  somewhere  or  other  among  the 
rocks  of  a  man's."  Now  the  study  in  question,  though  it 
might  not  impart,  nor  should  we  wish  to  have  it  impart,  a 
rocky  character  to  woman's  intellectual  nature,  still  would 
do  more  than  any  other  single  science  to  create  that  power 
of  sufficiency  to  itself,  the  absence  of  which  the  poet  asserts 
and  deplores.     How  will  it  accomplish  this  ? 


168  FEMALE   EDUCATION. 

First,  by  communicating  that  precise  knowledge,  the  pos- 
session of  which  is  always  agreeable,  and  which  contributes 
to  that  calmness  of  the  spirits,  that  equanimity,  which  pro- 
motes self-reliance.  While  it  supplies  materials  for  medi- 
tation, it  fits  the  mind  to  employ  itself  upon  them  ;  it  fur- 
nishes both  the  means  and  instrument  for  self-reflection.  A 
great  cause  of  instability  of  character  is  intellectual  poverty, 
want  of  materials  of  thought,  or  an  exclusive  dependence 
for  enjoyment  on  the  outward  world.  But  by  the  habit  of 
calm  reflection  on  the  processes  of  one's  own  mind,  the 
creature  of  sense  and  impression  learns  to  rely  on  a  firmer 
prop.  If  this  individuality  of  character,  this  power  of  self- 
control,  is  less  developed  in  female  character  than  in  that 
of  men,  as  Mrs.  Hemans  suggests,  then  no  course  of  study 
could  be  more  imperative  than  that  whose  immediate  effect 
would  be  to  supply  the  deficiency,  by  making  the  mind 
master  of  itself. 

Again,  the  study  imparts  symmetry  to  the  intellectual 
development.  It  represses  every  lordly  tendency ;  it  chas- 
tens all  luxuriant  growth  ;  it  spreads  a  delightful  harmony 
over  all  the  movements  of  the  soul.  There  is,  unquestion- 
ably, a  stronger  tendency  in  females  than  in  the  other  sex, 
to  the  imaginative,  or  to  the  inordinate  cultivation  of  the 
imagination.  We  do  not  object  to  a  large  and  liberal  nurture 
of  this  faculty.  She  has  her  uses,  —  her  noble,  her  relig- 
ious uses.  She  helps  to  sustain  the  soul  in  its  searches  for 
truth,  as  well  as  in  its  whole  wearisome  progress  through 
this  disciplinary  state.  She  smooths  the  hard  features  of 
our  lot.  She  plants  flowers  in  the  crevices  of  the  rocks, 
which  shed  their  fragrance  upon  us  as  we  pass  by.  She 
encircles  the  unknown  future  with  a  strange  interest.  We 
are  thus  drawn  upward  in  the  strait  path  of  duty,  for  she 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  169 

does  not  necessarily  mislead.  Her  offices  are  kind,  and  her 
hand  is  faithful.  If  she  does  not  perform  all  her  promises, 
it  is  only  because  richer  and  unimagined  things  are  in  store 
for  us.  She  directly  aids  us,  also,  in  the  discovery  of  truth. 
How  do  we  form  our  conceptions  of  the  Divine  attributes  ? 
Is  it  not  by  imagining  human  virtue,  or  human  power,  en- 
larged to  their  utmost  limits  ?  We  cannot  grasp  abstract 
perfection  by  an  effort  of  the  understanding.  All  which  we 
can  do  is  to  imagine  the  nearest  approximation  which  we 
can  make.  He  who  has  this  power  in  the  highest  exercise, 
other  things  being  equal,  will  form  the  most  worthy  con- 
ception of  God.  His  eternity,  —  how  could  we  gain  our 
present  faint  idea  of  it,  if  we  were  deprived  of  the  aid  of 
imagination .'' 

Still  this  aspiring  faculty  must  be  kept  within  her  limits. 
She  must  not  ascend  the  throne  of  the  despot.  She  must  not 
domineer,  at  least  in  our  country,  over  the  practical  under- 
standing. She  must  dwell  with  her  fellow-inmates  in  all 
sisterly  affection.  She  must  be  trained  along  with  the  other 
powers.  There  must  be  coherence,  concinnity,  complete- 
ness in  educating  the  mind.  The  laws  of  the  intellect  must 
be  patiently  studied.  Each  faculty  must  receive  its  appro- 
priate nourishment.  In  other  words,  there  is  no  substitute 
for  an  ample  training  in  the  philosophy  of  the  mind.  Edu- 
cation, without  it,  will  commonly  be  exclusive,  ill-adjusted, 
and  incomplete. 

But  in  female  schools,  as  hitherto  managed,  there  has 
been  no  opportunity  to  prosecute  this  study.  If  a  young 
lady  can  attend  but  one  or  two  terms,  her  labor  will  ordina- 
rily be  lost,  if  she  essays  this  difficult  branch.  It  presup- 
poses some  discipline,  some  acquisition.  Because  a  young 
lady  can  skilfully  analyze  a  Latin  verb,  or  a  mountain  flower, 

VOL.  II.  15 


170  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

it  does  not  follow  that  she  can  read  with  advantage  the  sec- 
ond volume  of  Dugald  Stewart.  The  latter  can  be  grasped 
only  by  powers  in  a  state  somewhat  mature.  It  is  impossi- 
ble for  a  fresh  scholar,  twelve  or  fourteen  years  old,  to 
grapple  with  questions  pertaining  to  the  origin  of  language, 
or  the  nature  of  human  testimony.  Hence,  many  readers 
of  Mr.  Stewart  are  apt  to  retain  nothing,  except  what  he 
says  upon  wit,  imagination,  and  the  different  kinds  of  mem- 
ory ;  illustrating,  perhaps,  in  their  own  case,  this  latter  topic. 
It  is  but  a  small  number,  comparatively,  of  the  members  of 
a  Senior  class  in  college,  who  are  able  to  reap  decided  ben- 
efit from  the  study  in  question.  These  few,  if  they  revert 
to  it  in  subsequent  life,  are  often  surprised,  alike  at  the  nov- 
elty of  the  thoughts,  and  at  the  feeble  impression  which  the 
previous  study  made  upon  them. 

Therefore  we  rejoice  in  the  establishment  of  this  Semi- 
nary. If  the  imperishable  mind  itself  is  worthy  of  patient 
investigation,  then  such  an  institution  is  of  inestimable  value. 
It  supplies  the  only  means  by  which  a  female  education  can 
be,  in  the  highest  sense,  completed.  Nothing  short  of  a 
systematic,  three-years'  course  can  supply  that  preliminary 
training  which  is  indispensable  for  the  due  appreciation  of 
the  labors  of  the  mental  philosopher. 

III.  One  advantage  of  the  establishment  of  a  school  like 
the  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  may  be  to  counteract  certain 
deleterious  influences  which  are  exerted  on  female  educa- 
tion, and  on  the  female  character,  by  our  large  cities. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  influences  are  very 
great,  and  that  they  are  fast  increasing.  The  power  that 
the  cities  of  London  and  Paris  exert  over  the  whole  civilized, 
and  particularly  over  the  whole  fashionable  world,  cannot  be 
calculated.    The  laws  which  emanate  from  the  French  mil- 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  171 

liners  reach  over  a  hundred  and  seven  and  twenty  provinces ; 
and  they  are  as  despotic,  for  the  time  being,  as  his  were 
who  sat  in  Shushan  the  palace.  In  our  own  country  every 
thing  is  tending  towards  centralization,  to  augment  the  num- 
ber and  the  extent  of  cities.  Boston,  with  its  dozen  iron 
arms,  is  drawing  to  itself  the  population  of  the  country,  and, 
with  those  same  arms,  reaching  out  to  the  dwellers  on  a 
thousand  hills,  the  social  and  intellectual  evils  and  blessings 
which  cluster  there.  That  this  metropolitan  influence  is,  in 
a  measure,  salutary,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  promotes  a 
higher  order  of  civilization.  It  induces  propriety  and  grace 
of  manners.  To  a  certain  extent,  and  if  kept  within  proper 
limits,  it  invests  the  human  form  with  fresh  attraction,  and 
adds  flexibility  and  sprightliness  to  the  somewhat  formal  and 
rigid  movement  which  is  more  peculiarly  the  growth  of  the 
country  village. 

But  what  the  female  population  of  large  towns  and  cities 
gain  in  outward  grace  and  personal  accomplishment,  they 
lose  in  more  substantial  qualities.  The  great  tendency  of  a 
city  life  is  to  superficialness,  —  the  cultivation  of  the  showy 
and  the  ornamental  to  the  neglect  of  that  which  is  enduring 
and  intrinsically  valuable.  The  spiritual  and  the  immortal 
are  postponed  to  the  fanciful  and  the  temporary.  It  is  a 
species  of  refined  materialism  ;  or,  if  it  embraces  aught 
which  pertains  to  the  higher  part  of  our  nature,  it  is  con- 
versant with  certain  faculties  whose  growth  is  apt  to  be 
inordinate,  and  whose  sphere  of  operation  is  among  things 
that  are  visible  and  evanescent.  Light-mindedness,  impa- 
tience of  control,  a  shrinking  from  vigorous  intellectual 
labor,  do  not,  by  any  means,  characterize  all  females  who 
reside  in  our  cities  ;  but  such  is,  unquestionably,  the  decided 
tendency  of  things. 


172  FEMALE   EDUCATION. 

This  tendency  is  caused  or  fostered,  in  the  first  place,  by 
the  innumerable  temptations  to  superficial  reading,  which 
are  furnished  from  circulating  libraries  and  other  sources. 
Those  who  cannot  purchase  a  standard  work  on  history, 
can  readily  borrow  the  latest  romance.  Those  who  would 
regard  Sharon  Turnei',  or  Mr.  Hallam,  as  an  intolerable 
annoyance,  feel  no  compunction  of  conscience  in  devouring 
score  after  score  of  the  productions  of  Bulwer,  or  of  the 
feeble  imitators  of  Walter  Scott.  Much  of  the  religious 
literature,  which  swarms  in  the  city  bookstores,  is  no  better. 
It  is  made  up,  in  no  small  degree,  of  books  which  are  a 
compilation  for  the  thousandth  time.  No  goldleaf  was  ever 
spread  over  an  ampler  surface  than  are  their  few  thoughts. 
The  mezzotint  and  the  immaculate  linen  paper  are  the 
chief  recommendations  in  many  most  popular  volumes, 
which,  by  a  misnomer,  are  termed  religious.  The  birth- 
day and  the  new  year's  present  is  a  miserable,  brainless 
thing  called  an  Annual.  Who  could  be  so  audacious,  as  to 
propose  to  substitute  for  it  a  volume  of  Edmund  Burke  or 
of  John  Foster  ?  The  very  hint  of  the  expediency  of  such 
a  measure  would  almost  ostracize  one  from  good  society. 

The  tendency  in  question  is  increased  by  the  arrange- 
ment, or  rather  disarrangement,  of  time,  which  prevails  in 
cities.  The  morning  hours,  the  country  over,  are  dedicated 
to  study.  Vigor  of  mind  is  enjoyed,  if  at  all,  in  the  fore- 
noon. It  appears  to  be  a  universal  law  of  our  physical 
system,  when  it  is  in  a  healthful  state.  We  know  that  some 
ministers  and  some  lawyers  study  in  the  night.  Alexander 
Hamilton  labored  on  his  bank  bill,  under  the  conjoint  influ- 
ence of  the  midnight  hour  and  of  strong  coffee.  But  such 
is  not  the  law.  The  products  of  these  unseasonable  hours 
will  be,  ordinarily,  morbid  in  their  character,  if  they  do  not 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  173 

fail  of  their  effect.  The  male  or  the  female,  who  would 
aspire  to  the  possession  of  a  cultivated  and  well-furnished 
mind,  must  not,  in  general,  permit  the  early  hours  of  the 
day  to  pass  unemployed.  But,  unhappily,  such  a  dispo- 
sition of  time,  in  our  cities,  would  seem  to  be  impracticable. 
The  conventional  usages  of  society  interpose  an  invincible 
obstacle.  The  order  of  nature  is  perfectly  reversed.  The 
evening  is  devoted  to  the  popular  lecture  ;  several  succeed- 
ing hours  are  spent  in  the  exciting  festivities  which  are  at- 
tendant on  each  season  of  the  year.  The  first,  and  what 
may  be  called  the  intellectual  portion  of  the  following  day, 
is  employed  in  recovering  the  wasted  energy,  and  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  calls  of  fashion,  which  are  alike  brief,  rapid, 
and  heartless.  It  is  this  tyranny  of  custom  which  paralyzes 
intellect.  It  cuts  off  every  favorable  opportunity  for  self- 
education.  Who  can  discipline  her  mind  while  subject  to 
a  law,  the  more  despotic  because  it  is  unwritten  ?  The 
weakness  and  indolence  of  human  nature  forbid  us  to  expect, 
that  there  will  be  that  self-control,  and  that  love  for  intel- 
lectual pursuits,  which  will  triumph  over  these  formidable 
impediments. 

The  same  effect  is  produced  by  the  withdrawal  from 
manual  labor,  from  earnest  physical  employment,  which 
prevails  in  the  upper  class,  and  in  a  large  portion  of  the 
middle  class,  of  the  women  of  cities.  The  power  of  the 
mind  is  augmented  by  the  exei'cise  of  the  body.  The 
healthful  action  of  the  brain,  every  one  knows,  depends  on 
those  causes  which  the  indolent  and  the  unemployed  never 
set  in  motion.  The  younger  females,  particularly,  need 
that  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  and  of  the  worth  of 
time,  which  cannot  be  acquired,  in  general,  except  they 
have  a  regular  task,  an  assigned  physical  labor  to  perform. 
15* 


174  FEMALE    EDUCATION. 

By  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  thou  shah  be  able  to  think,  is  as 
true  as  any  proposition  which  can  be  stated. 

Tliere  are,  besides,  certain  general  influences  in  a  city 
which  conspire  to  the  same  end.  All  things  are  in  motion. 
It  is  the  centre  of  news ;  it  is  the  terminus  of  intelligence. 
It  is  a  theatre  for  action.  A  thousand  voices  invite  to  effort, 
not  to  study.  The  immediately  useful  is  the  idol  that  most 
bow  down  to.  Nothing  can  escape  the  rage  for  present  ef- 
fect. The  groves  of  Plato's  Academy  would  be  cut  down, 
if  they  stood  in  the  way  of  a  wharf;  the  Parthenon  would 
be  pulled  over,  if  its  stones  could  be  converted  into  a  cus- 
tom-house ;  or  if  its  site  were  convenient  for  a  hay-market. 
Excitement  is  the  order  of  the  day.  The  passions,  the 
sensibilities,  are  in  danger  of  dislodging  sober  judgment  and 
habits  of  patient  study.  What  could  be  less  wonderful  than 
that  the  female  portion  of  this  bustling  community  should 
not  be  able  to  escape  from  the  vortex  ?  Hence  we  have, 
what  we  might  expect,  less  intellectual  energy,  less  solidity 
of  character,  among  females  in  a  city,  than  in  the  country. 
In  other  respects,  they  may  be  superior.  They  may  win  a 
more  fervent  admiration.  They  may  approach  nearer  that 
ideal  of  female  excellence  which  floats  in  the  public  mind. 
But  the  substantial  elements  of  character  certainly  suffer 
deterioration.  Most  of  the  females,  who  have  been  dis- 
tinguished for  the  higher  qualities  of  mind,  have  been  born 
and  educated  in  the  country. 

Honor,  therefore,  to  any  one  who  resists  this  pernicious 
tendency.  Prosperity  to  the  institution  that  shall  erect  a 
barrier  to  the  overwhelming  and  enervating  effects  of  city 
fashions.  Benefactors  to  their  country  are  those  who  lay 
the  structure  of  female  education  on  an  ample  basis ;  who 
insist  upon  a  well-proportioned  and  protracted  course  of  dis- 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  175 

cipline.  A  strong  argument  in  favor  of  establishments  like 
the  one  which  we  behold  to-day,  is  their  anti-metropolitan 
influence.  If  they  have  attendant  evils,  they  are  not  such 
as  are  incident  to  a  city.  They  proceed  on  the  assumption, 
that  the  female  mind  is  too  noble  in  its  origin,  too  sublime 
in  its  destiny,  too  exquisite  in  its  structure,  to  be  a  mere 
automaton,  moved  by  the  impulses  of  a  fond  admiration,  or 
the  decrees  of  a  blind  fashion.  They  assume,  what  has 
always  been  allowed  in  respect  to  men,  that  a  plan  in  edu- 
cation, well  considered  and  coherent,  is  indispensable. 

If  we  wish  our  countrywomen  to  be  any  thing  but  the 
slaves  of  the  latest  Parisian  importations,  or  the  mere  idols 
of  an  hour,  they  must  be  taught  patiently  and  perseveringly. 
Mind  is  the  same  in  either  sex,  and  everywhere.  A  sym- 
metrical education  and  a  useful  life  are  not  the  creations  of 
accident,  either  in  man  or  woman. 

IV.  We  argue,  again,  in  favor  of  the  systematic  and  pro- 
tracted education  of  females,  from  one  or  two  circumstances 
in  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  country. 

We  are  no  Cassandras.  We  do  not  like  to  be  Micaiahs, 
—  prophets  of  evil.  We  have  strong  hopes  that  the  Amer- 
ican experiment  will  succeed.  We  believe  that  th^  repub- 
lican theory  is  the  better,  not  only  relatively,  but  absolutely. 
It  has  fitnesses,  which  nothing  else  has,  to  the  nature  and 
wants  of  man  as  such.  Every  year  in  our  history  proves 
this.  The  people  of  this  country  are  not  atheists.  There 
is  more  fear  of  God  pervading  the  public  mind  than  we 
sometimes  imagine.  It  may  not  appear  on  the  surface. 
Deism  may  run  to  and  fro  along  the  great  thoroughfares  of 
our  land.  But  when  an  exigency  comes,  when  a  terrible 
calamity  intervenes,  like  that  which  we  have  just  passed 
through,  there  are  a  thousand  unexpected  developments 


176  FEMALE   EDUCATION. 

which  show  that  we  are  not  altogether  reprobate.  We  trust 
that  our  great  country  has  not  seen  its  best  days.  The 
working  together  of  the  true  principles  of  freedom  and  of 
religion  will  at  length  exhibit  a  degree  of  prosperity,  and  a 
kind  of  national  character,  which  the  race  have  never  yet 
seen. 

But  this  consummation  —  to  be  desired  above  all  things 
earthly  —  is  to  be  brought  about,  if  at  all,  by  the  thorough, 
comprehensive.  Christian  education  of  the  people.  Among 
the  most  imminent  dangers  are  those  which  result  from  the 
jealousy  and  enmity  of  the  different  portions  of  the  United 
States,  menacing  disunion  ;  and  such  as  are  the  legitimate 
product  of  ignorance  among  the  mass  of  the  people.  The 
remedies  are  to  be  found  in  an  adequate  intellectual  and 
Christian  training.  That  education  is  not  worth  much,  which 
does  not  make  its  possessor  charitable  in  his  judgments,  ur- 
bane, large-hearted,  a  lover  of  his  country,  —  of  every  part 
of  it.  An  exclusive  cultivation  of  the  mental  powers  may 
not  have  this  effect ;  but  the  harmonious  development  of  all 
the  faculties  of  the  soul  must  have  such  a  tendency.  A 
course  of  study  like  that  pursued  in  the  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary,  if  it  could  be  extended  into  every  State  of  the 
Union,  would  be  one  of  the  firmest  props  of  that  Union. 
No  disorganizing  influences  ever  emanate  from  it.  No 
beetle-eyed  prejudice,  no  narrow-minded  bigotry,  can  find  a 
home  where  the  sciences  are  truly  taught.  The  air  which 
is  breathed  is  too  invigorating;  the  impulses  which  it  prompts 
are  too  noble. 

It  will  be  equally  potent  in  putting  an  end  to  ignorance. 
The  religious  delusions,  which  infest  some  large  portions  of 
our  country,  and  which  it  is  an  insult  to  the  human  under- 
standing even  to  name,  are  the  rank  growth  of  ignorance. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  177 

There  is  no  end  to  these  popular  hallucinations,  and  there 
never  will  be,  till  a  sound  common-school  education  is  the 
inheritance  of  the  mass  of  the  youth  of  our  country ;  and 
until  a  large  number  of  both  sexes  are  enabled  to  pursue 
an  ampler  and  more  finished  course.  The  best  antidote 
for  the  new  dispensation  of  military  saints  at  Nauvoo,  in 
Illinois,  is  the  flourishing  seminary,  the  Holyoke  of  the  West, 
which  has  risen  up  in  the  same  State.  The  education  which 
is  acquired  in  such  schools,  forms  a  well-balanced  charac- 
ter, furnishes  healthful  employment  for  the  mind,  renders 
it  skilful  in  detecting  the  lying  wonders  of  the  prophets  of 
Baal,  and  gradually  stations  through  the  country  those  who 
will  readily  cooperate  in  extending  the  benefits  of  true 
science  and  of  i-eal  religion.  Such  institutions  are  the  an- 
tagonists of  religious  error,  because  they  correct  that  intense 
craving  for  novelty,  that  passion  for  excitement  on  which 
the  adroit  impostor  founds  his  system.  It  is  not  enough  that 
men  are  thoroughly  taught.  The  female  portion  of  the  com- 
munity partake  largely  in  the  evils  of  these  popular  frenzies. 
Obvious  causes  make  them  peculiarly  susceptible  to  influ- 
ences of  this  natui-e.  An  ignorant  and  superstitious  family 
supplies  the  materials  on  which  the  Latter-Day  Saint  operates 
to  the  greatest  advantage.  The  sound,  scientific,  Scriptural 
education  of  the  mothers  and  daughters  and  female  school- 
teachers of  our  land,  would  furnish  a  most  efTectual  safe- 
guard against  the  repetition  of  scenes,  which  alike  blast  our 
honor  and  menace  the  existence  of  our  valuable  institutions. 

We  cannot  close  these  already  protracted  remarks,  with- 
out adverting  to  one  or  two  objections,  which  are  sometimes 
alleged  against  an  extensive  course  of  female  education,  like 
the  one  which  we  have  now  commended. 


178  FEMALE   EDUCATION. 

The  most  common  and  plausible  objection,  perhaps,  is 
this.  It  will  alienate  the  student  from  home-bred  pleasures. 
She  may  have  large  stores  of  knowledge,  but  they  will  be 
earned  at  too  great  a  cost.  The  discipline  is  not  fitted  to 
the  peculiar  sphere  of  duties  in  which  she  will  be  called  to 
act. 

This  assumption  we  take  the  liberty  to  deny.  It  is  not 
borne  out  by  the  experience  of  the  past.  Learning  and 
domestic  virtues  have  gone  hand  in  hand.  In  every  age, 
the  b<'st-educated  females  have  been  the  best  examples  of 
all  which  is  praiseworthy  in  social  life.  The  lady  of  the 
great  metaphysician  of  New  England,  in  the  last  century,  is 
one  instance  among  a  hundred  which  might  be  named.  The 
Essay  on  the  Freedom  of  the  Human  Will  was  the  product 
of  the  leisure  which  she  supplied.*  The  lady  of  Old  Eng- 
land, who  has  carried  her  astronomical  studies  further  than 

*  The  lady  of  the  great  mathematician  of  New  England  merits  a 
similar  eulogy.  In  Dr.  Bowditch's  affecling  dedication  of  his  Trans- 
lation of  the  Mecanique  Celeste  to  his  wife,  ii  is  stated,  that  without 
her  approt)ation  the  work  would  never  have  been  undertaken ;  and 
that  it  owes  its  completion  to  the  fact,  that  she  entirely  relieved  her 
husband  from  domestic  care  and  anxiety  by  her  admirable  manage- 
ment. 

Morus,  in  his  Life  of  the  celebrated  Reiske,  says :  "  The  wife  of 
Eeiske,  Ernestina  Christiana  Mailer,  was  a  singular  instance  of  a 
woman  united  in  a  literary  partnership  with  her  husband,  in  addition, 
to  the  love,  faitiifulness,  amenity,  truth,  etc.,  which  made  her  society 
very  delightful.  In  describing  and  collating  MSS.,  in  digesting  various 
readings,  and  in  all  the  exhausting  labors  incident  to  an  editor  of  an- 
cient writers,  she  so  assisted  him  that  he  had  nothing  more  to  desire." 
In  the  Preface  to  his  edition  of  Demosthenes,  Reiske  gives  her  a  warm 
and  meiited  eulogy.  The  last  three  volumes  were  ably  edited  by  her 
after  his  death.  She  was  alike  familiar  with  the  ancient  and  modern 
languages.  —  Vita  Keisku,  p.  38. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  179 

many  educated  men  are  able  to  follow  her,  revolves,  in  pri- 
vate life,  in  no  starry  sphere,  but  in  a  tranquil  domestic 
orbit.  The  sweet  singer  of  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims 
was  never  accused  of  any  deficiency  in  filial  or  maternal 
duties.  Indeed,  in  this  last  particular,  she  had  a  twofold  task. 
It  was  practical  and  not  poetic  toil,  which  caused  her  sun  to 
set  ere  it  was  yet  noon.  It  was  the  every-day  hardship  of 
writing  for  bread,  which  extinguished  those  visions  with 
which  her  imagination  was  instinct. 

What  we  thus  prove  from  indisputable  facts,  we  might 
argue  from  the  nature  of  the  case.  "  It  is  not  because 
individuals  possess  genius,"  says  a  great  living  writer,  "  that 
they  make  unhappy  homes ;  but  because  they  do  not  pos- 
sess genius  enough ;  a  higher  order  of  mind  would  enable 
them  to  see  and  feel  all  the  beauty  of  domestic  life." 
Learning  or  genius,  in  man  or  in  woman,  fits  them  for  their 
duties,  wherever  they  may  be.  There  is  no  discrepancy 
between  a  thorough  education  and  the  hardest  manual  labor. 
Education,  when  we  look  at  its  very  etymology,  draws  out 
the  powers  of  the  soul.  Its  result  is  a  symmetrical  character. 
True  science  is  always  modest  and  helpful.  The  tendency 
of  good  learning  is  to  level  all  distinctions  which  are  not 
founded  in  truth.  It  imparts  dignity  to  every  lawful  pur- 
suit. It  surrounds  home  with  new  attractions.  No  one  can 
enter  into  the  meaning  of  that  word  so  well  as  a  scholar.  It 
helps  him  to  appreciate  with  a  warmer  interest  the  hum- 
ble, and  perhaps  uneducated  toilers  there.  She  who  makes 
learning  any  excuse  for  the  omission  of  practical  duties, 
may  be  sure  that  her  learning  is  as  scanty  as  her  benevo- 
lence. The  anti-domestic  influence,  which  has  been  at- 
tributed to  female  schools,  if  it  exists,  is  certainly  the  result 
of  something  besides  learning.     There  has  not  been  time  for 


180  FEMALE    EDirCATION. 

the  discipline  of  all  the  faculties,  or  some  corroding  preju- 
dice has  taken  lodgment  in  the  mind.* 

There  is  another  objection  somewhat  similar  to  the  one 
which  we  have  been  considering.  A  course  of  study  for 
females,  framed  substantially  in  accordance  with  that  which 
is  pursued  at  our  colleges,  will  mar,  it  is  said,  that  beautiful 
variety  which  now  crowns  the  Creator's  works.  The  grace- 
ful and  the  elegant  in  female  character  will  be  merged  in 
that  which  is  hard,  muscular,  and  repulsive.  An  iron  vigor 
of  intellect  will  be  a  poor  substitute  for  amenity  of  man- 
ners, refinement  of  sensibilities,  and  those  thousand  name- 
less qualities  of  the  heart  and  the  life  which  win  esteem. 
We  may  have  female  philosophers  or  heroines,  Maids  of 
Orleans  or  Madame  de  Staels ;  not  Mrs.  Huntingtons,  nor 
De  Broglies. 

If  such,  however,  should  be  the  effect,  it  would  be  at  va- 
riance with  all  reasonable  expectation.  In  the  present  state 
of  society,  the  amalgamation  of  the  distinctive  characteris- 
tics of  the  sexes  is  impossible ;  because,  in  opposition  to  it, 
there  are  certain  general  influences  which  are  constantly  at 
work.  There  is  a  decided  public  opinion  which  nothing 
can  overcome.  There  is  an  innate  sense  of  the  propriety 
of  these  distinctions,  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  that  public 
sentiment.     There  is  the  irresistible  agency  of  the  world  of 

*  We  do  not  deny,  that  there  are  possible  evils  connected  with  a 
protracted  and  public  course  of  female  education.  AYe  think,  however, 
that  they  can  be  obviated  by  a  due  measure  of  forethought  and  care  on 
the  part  of  the  guardians  and  teachers  of  schools.  If  Mr.  Isaac  Tay- 
lor's ideas  on  "  Home  Education  "  could  be  reduced  to  practice  in  our 
country,  we  should  anticipate  happy  results.  But  can  wc  hope  for  this, 
at  least  in  the  present  generation  ?  How  can  that  be  communicated 
which  is  not  possessed  ? 


FEMALE    EDUCATION.  181 

fashion,  and  the  concurrent  voice  of  the  literature  of  all  civ- 
ilized nations.  There  never  has  been  but  one  tribe  of  Ama- 
zons in  fable  ;  while  there  never  was,  and  there  never  will 
be,  one  in  history.  The  danger,  therefore,  which  is  appre- 
hended, cannot  be  imminent.  In  order  to  realize  the  dread- 
ed amalgamation,  we  must  overturn  the  structure  of  society, 
run  counter  to  th«  general  sense  of  men,  and  annihilate 
some  of  the  strongest  impulses  of  our  nature. 

The  objectors,  to  whom  we  refer,  are  often  very  incon- 
sistent with  themselves.  They  are  accustomed  to  allude, 
in  no  very  courteous  terms,  to  the  frivolous  pursuits  of  fe- 
males, and  to  the  superficial  character  of  their  professed 
attainments  in  knowledge  ;  and  yet,  when  a  proposition  is 
made  to  impart  to  them  an  adequate  intellectual  discipline, 
they  at  once  frown  upon  it  as  Utopian,  or  as  contravening 
the  order  of  nature,  or  the  arrangements  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. 

Again,  when  an  eminent  statesman,  scholar,  or  soldier,  is 
the  topic  of  conversation,  their  inference,  almost  invariably, 
is,  that  the  genius  of  the  son  is  owing  to  the  genius  of  the 
mother.  They  leave  the  hero  of  a  hundred  battle-fields, 
in  order  to  inquire  into  the  character  of  the  Corsican  ma- 
tron. They  remember  that  he  who  was  the  Lord  Chancel- 
lor o{  nature,  as  well  as  of  England,  grew  up  amid  a  con- 
stellation of  female  genius.  They  linger  fondly  over  the 
memory  of  her  who  taught  the  greatest  of  American  pulpit 
orators,  —  President  Davies  ;  and  assert  that  it  was  to  her 
strong  mind  and  fervent  prayer,  that  we  owe  this  second 
Whitefield.  But  why,  —  if  female  education  is  of  so  little 
value,  —  why  do  they  honor  the  mother,  while  recording 
the  distinguished  virtues  of  the  son  7  Because  their  theory 
is  overborne  by  facts.     Unconsciously  they  bring  forward 

VOL.  II.  16 


182  FEMALE   EDUCATION. 

the  highest  possible  testimony  to  the  worth  of  that  which 
they  denounce. 

But  we  are  grateful  for  the  evidence,  that  such  cavillers 
do  not  abound  here.  We  have  solid  proof,  that  the  educa- 
tion of  our  countrywomen  is,  on  this  spot  at  least,  duly 
honored.  We  rejoice  in  the  noble  testimony.  We  give 
thanks  to  a  gracious  Providence  for  what  "our  eyes  see,  and 
our  ears  have  heard.  We  adore  that  Holy  Spirit  whose 
converting  grace  descends,  as  it  should  seem,  perennially, 
like  the  dew  which  distils  on  the  mountains  that  are  round 
about  this  daughter  of  Zion.  We  may  be  pardoned  in  add- 
ing, that  but  few  names  in  our  country  will  be  had  in  more 
blessed  remembrance  than  hers,  who  has  carried  a  great 

and  most  benevolent  object  through,  in  the  face  of  an  unbe- 
...  * 

lieving  generation. 

It  is  a  benevolent  object.  It  is  the  cultivation  of  the  im- 
perishable mind,  of  that  which  was  made  but  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels.  The  youthful  female  who  has  a  good  in- 
tellectual and  religious  education,  has  every  thing.  She 
need  not  envy  the  dowry  of  the  daughters  of  Croesus,  nor 
the  fortune  of  her  Transatlantic  cousin,  whose  sceptre 
stretches  over  regions,  on  which,  as  her  people  like  to  boast, 
ti)e  sun  never  sets. 


THE  POETRY  OF  WORDSWORTH/ 


We  have  a  right  to  take  for  granted,  that  the  poems  of 
Wordsworth  are  not  much  appreciated  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  No  inconsiderable  part  of  a  small  edition  of  his 
Works,  published  in  this  city  in  1824,  remains  unsold.  The 
indiiference  to  his  writings  is  not  confined  to  the  prudent, 
the  practical,  the  money-getting,  nor  to  the  light-minded 
and  excitable.  The  men  who  profess  to  be  able  to  relish 
good  poetry,  stand  aloof.  Those  in  whose  lips  Milton  and 
Cowper  are  familiar  words  hold  no  communion  with  the 
living  poet.  We  propose  briefly  to  inquire  into  some  of  the 
causes  of  this  general  neglect. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  shallow  and  contemptible 
criticisms,  which  appeared,  fifteen  or  twenty  years  since,  in 
the  British  Reviews,  exerted  considerable  influence  in  this 
country.     According  to  Blackwood,  certainly  sufficient  au- 

*  This  Essay  was  published  in  the  Biblical  Repository,  January, 
1836,  as  a  Review  of  "  The  Poetical  Works  of  William  Wordsworth, 
in  four  volumes :  Boston,  Cummings,  Hilliard,  &  Co.,  1824,  pp. 
319,  368,  384,  382";  and  "  Yarrow  Revisited,  and  other  Poems,  by 
William  Wordsworth:  Boston,  James  Munroe  &  Co.,  1835,  pp. 
244." 


184  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

thority,  there  has  arisen  but  one  good  critic  in  Scotland, — 
the  poet  Beattie.  So  far  as  the  earlier  notices  of  Words- 
worth are  to  be  taken  into  the  account,  England  will  fall 
under  the  same  condemnation.  The  public  mind  was  every- 
where prejudiced.  To  praise  Wordsworth  was  to  rise  up 
in  rebellion  against  the  canons  of  legitimate  criticism.  It 
was  nearly  as  safe  for  a  Jew  to  be  found  with  a  New  Testa- 
ment in  his  pocket,  as  for  an  Englishman  or  American  to 
be  caught  reading  Wordsworth.*  We  were  taught  to  shud- 
der at  the  mention  of  the  "  Lakes,''''  as  though  something 
very  terrible  or  very  silly  was  wrapped  up  in  that  word. 
These  unfriendly  criticisms  were  not  short-lived  in  their 
effects.  Literary  slander  does  not  easily  die.  No  subse- 
quent I'ecantation  can  fully  extract  its  venom.  The  Review 
has  lived  to  confess  its  sins,  but  the  minds  of  its  readers 
were  incurably  poisoned. 

Again,  much  of  the  poetry  of  Wordsworth  is  of  a  calm, 
severe,  and  finished  character.  He  lays  a  tax  on  the  pa- 
tience, the  considerateness,  the  religious  reflection  of  his 
reader.  He  requires  in  him  honesty  of  purpose,  and  a 
mind  undimmed  by  passion  or  prejudice.  The  careless 
votary  has  nothing  to  do  at  the  altar  of  this  poet.  But  men 
of  the  school  of  Byron  and  Moore  have  been  lords  of  the 
ascendant  in  this  country,  as  well  as  in  Britain.  The  mass 
of  reading  people  have  been  crazed  with  the  unnatural  fic- 
tions of  the  royal  or  the  Irish  bard.  The  continent  of  Eu- 
rope, for  the  last  thirty  years,  has  not  been  the  scene  of 
more  incessant  and  inordinate  excitement,  than  the  minds  of 
the  great  body  of  the  enlightened  population  of  Christendom. 

*  Even  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  remarkably  liberal  in  his  literary 
judgments,  confesses  that  he  had  cherished  a  most  unworthy  prejudice 
a£:ainst  Wordsworth. 


THE    POETRY   OF    WORDSWORTH.  185 

Men  in  this  country,  from  whom  we  might  have  expected 
better  things,  have  glided  too  much  into  the  current.  The 
cry  is  for  action,  vehement  passion,  immediate  effect,  and 
few  have  the  courage  to  stop  their  ears.  These  thoughtful 
few  even  must  sometimes  join  the  multitude,  lest  they 
should  be  rebuked  for  sheer  singularity.  The  soul  requires 
little  or  no  training  to  relish  Byron.  Unwashen  guests  may 
drink  of  the  wine  which  he  has  mingled.  But  with  Words- 
worth it  is  the  reverse.  He  has  thought  deeply  and  long. 
In  the  whole  range  of  poetic  literature,  ancient  and  modern, 
we  know  not  an  instance  of  such  patient  attention,  of  such 
indefatigable  meditation.  Milton  was  a  Commonwealth's 
man.  Cowper  brooded  over  his  own  crushed  and  helpless 
spirit.  Thomson  was  a  lover  of  indolence  and  of  the  good 
things  of  this  life.  Coleridge  poured  forth  his  gorgeous 
stores  in  conversation,  and,  though  leaving  works  which 
shall  never  perish,  died  amidst  magnificent  unaccomplished 
projects.  But  Wordsworth  has  consecrated  himself  to  his 
undertaking,  with  uncomplaining,  unexampled,  and  iron 
diligence.  Genius  has  been  defined  the  power  of  hard 
thinking.  The  Poet,  while  he  would  reject  this  as  an  exclu- 
sive definition,  has  practically  embraced  it  as  an  important 
part.  In  this  fact  there  is  much  to  account  for  the  treat- 
ment which  his  volumes  have  received.  His  poems  are 
not  made  to  please,  in  the  common  use  of  that  word.  They 
require  what  the  reader  is  not  accustomed  to  yield.* 

*  Wordsworth  thus  contrasts  Science  and  Poetry.  "  The  man  of 
science  seeks  truth  as  a  remote  and  unknown  benefactor ;  he  cherishes 
and  loves  it  in  his  solitude :  tlie  poet,  singing  a  song  in  which  all  hu- 
man beings  join  with  him,  rejoices  in  the  presence  of  truth  as  our  vis- 
ible friend  and  hourly  companion.  Poetry  is  the  breath  and  finer  spirit 
of  all  knowledge ;  it  is  the  impassioned  expression  which  is  in  the 
16* 


186  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

We  fear,  however,  that  the  causes  of  this  general  dislike 
to  Wordsworth  lie  deeper.  We  apprehend  that  there  are 
certain  things  connected  with  the  intellectual  and  active 
habits  of  the  people  of  this  country  not  wholly  favorable  to 
a  proper  estimate  of  a  great  poet.  This  tendency  in  the 
general  mind  is  developed  in  various  w'ays.  There  is  a 
resolute  repugnance  to  the  authority  of  distinguished  names. 
In  past  ages,  concurrence  in  judgment  on  the  part  of  a  few 
leading  minds  was  considered  to  be  probable  evidence  of 
the  soundness  of  that  judgment.  But  such  concurrence 
now  is  regarded  as  a  suspicious  circumstance.     The  illus- 


countenance  of  all  science.  Emphaticallj'  may  it  be  said  of  the  poet, 
as  Shakspeare  hath  said  of  man, '  that  he  looks  before  and  after.'  He 
is  the  rock  of  defence  of  human  nature ;  an  upholder  and  preserver, 
carrying  everywhere  with  him  relationship  and  love.  In  spite  of  dif- 
ference of  soil  and  climate,  of  language  and  manners,  of  laws  and  cus- 
toms ;  in  spite  of  things  silently  gone  out  of  mind,  and  things  vio- 
lently destroyed  ;  the  poet  binds  together  by  passion  and  knowledge 
the  vast  empire  of  human  society,  as  it  is  spread  over  the  whole  earth, 
and  overall  time.  The  objects  of  the  poet's  thoughts  are  everywhere: 
though  the  eyes  and  senses  of  men  are,  it  is  true,  his  favorite  guides, 
yet  he  will  follow  wheresoever  he  can  find  an  atmosphere  of  sensation 
in  which  to  move  his  wings.  Poetry  is  the  first  and  last  of  all  knowl- 
edge ;  it  is  as  immortal  as  the  heart  of  man.  If  the  labors  of  men  of 
science  should  ever  create  any  material  revolution,  direct  or  indirect, 
in  our  condition,  and  in  the  impressions  which  we  habitually  receive, 
the  poet  will  sleep  then  no  more  than  at  present,  but  he  will  be  ready 
to  follow  the  steps  of  the  man  of  science,  not  only  in  those  general  in- 
direct effects,  but  he  will  be  at  his  side,  carrying  sensation  into  the 
midst  of  the  objects  of  the  science  itself" 

We  leave  our  readers  to  judge  whether  the  Poet,  who  has  meditated 
so  deeplj'  and  thought  so  well  on  the  nature  and  objects  of  his  vocation, 
as  is  indicated  in  the  above  passage,  will  not  be  likely  to  write  poetry 
worthy,  of  attention. 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  187 

trious  dead  are  dragged  forth  to  meet  the  ordeal  of  a  keen 
and  unsanctified  criticism.  We  cannot  comfort  ourselves 
with  the  memoiy  of  Socrates,  but  we  must  be  confronted 
with  the  charges  of'  some  sophist  or  some  tanner.  We 
cannot  exalt  the  human  mind  by  recalling  the  names  of 
Lord  Bacon  and  of  Robert  Hall,  but  at  the  risk  of  hear- 
ing bribery  laid  at  the  door  of  the  one,  and  opium-eating  at 
that  of  the  othei*.  Every  point  in  the  moral  character  of  a 
great  man  must  be  vindicated,  before  we  can  touch  the  pro- 
ductions which  he  has  left  as  a  precious  legacy  for  all  time. 
-This  habit  of  eagle-eyed  and  unhallowed  criticism  pre- 
vails in  this  country.  A  great  name  must  have  some  op- 
probrious mark  attached  to  it,  because  the  man  who  wears 
that  name  is  not  absolutely  perfect,  or  because  the  ardor  of 
true  genius  has  not  been,  in  every  instance,  united  to  a  most 
scrupulous  accuracy.  Now  when  we  open  the  pages  of  an 
author  of  any  repute,  we  need  to  cherish  reverence  and 
humility.  We  must  have  some  faith  in  his  power  to  en- 
lighten and  instruct  us.  We  must  not  carry  a  hard  heart 
in  our  bosoms,  nor  a  tomahawk  in  our  hands.  We  must 
throw  aside  prejudice,  and  be  ready  to  weigh,  inwardly  di- 
gest, love,  and  treasure  up.  Wordsworth  has  spent  a  long 
life  in  the  study  of  his  noble  art.  He  is  educated  in  the 
mysteries  of  his  calling.  In  addition  to  a  large  measure  of 
natural  sensibility,  he  has  qualified  himself  by  a  patient  study 
of  nature  and  of  the  human  faculties.  Is  he  then  not  enti- 
tled to  our  confidence  .''  May  we  not  challenge  for  him,  as 
a  passport  to  his  writings,  what  multitudes  in  our  days  are 
so  willing  to  abjure,  —  a  worthy  name,  a  high  authority  } 

There  is,  moreover,  in  this  country,  too  much  of  sectarian 
judgment.  An  author  must  be  of  our  political  or  religious 
creed,  or  we  cannot  tolerate  him.     He  must  entertain  pre- 


188  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

cisely  the  same  notions  with  ourselves  on  the  questions  of 
liberty,  church  and  state,  the  authority  of  bishops,  etc.  If 
one  of  another  communion  furnishes  a  book  of  poetry,  our 
first  questions  are  :  Does  he  believe  in  the  divine  right  of 
kings  ?  Is  he  sufficiently  anti-popish  ?  Is  there  not  some 
political  or  religious  heresy  couched  under  his  hexameters  ? 
Such  extreme  suspiciousness  shows  that  we  are  in  some 
doubt  about  the  foundations  of  our  own  faith.  It  also  indi- 
cates a  state  of  heart  totally  unfit  to  come  into  the  presence 
of  a  master-spirit  of  our  race.  It  may  be  important,  in  some 
respects,  to  know  that  Lord  Bacon  was  a  churchman,  and  a 
chancellor,  and  not  wholly  free  from  the  sin  of  believing  in 
alchemy.  But  what  have  these  things  to  do  with  the  gen- 
eral estimate  of  his  writings  ?  So  of  Wordsworth.  His 
views  on  church  government,  and  on  republicanism,  may 
not  coincide  with  those  generally  entertained  in  this  coun- 
try. But  can  we  not  rise  superior  to  such  considerations  ? 
Is  he  not  a  man  and  a  poet .''  Does  he  not  treat  of  human 
sympathies  ?  Does  he  not  speak  a  universal  language  ? 
Has  he  not  shed  a  benign  light  on  the  truth  which  is  never 
to  perish,  —  on  questions  interesting  to  man  in  all  states 
and  stages  of  his  being  ?  We  look  on  the  poet  as  the  ben- 
efactor of  our  race.  In  perusing  his  works,  we  feel  a  new 
interest,  not  alone  in  our  English  descent ;  a  new  bond  of 
affection,  not  alone  for  our  mother  speech.  The  poet  has 
enlarged  the  sphere  of  human  knowledge  ;  he  has  quickened 
the  sympathies  of  our  common  humanity. 

We  may  be  permitted  to  mention,  that  the  unsettled  state 
of  the  public  mind  in  this  country,  on  many  questions  in 
mental  and  moral  philosophy,  is  unfavorable  to  a  due  appre- 
ciation of  Wordsworth.  The  Poet  is  a  philosopher.  He 
has  studied  hard  and  thought  clearly.     His  poems  are  con- 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  189 

siructed  on  fixed  principles.  He  has  not  judged  it  worth 
while  to  write  at  random,  in  fits  of  inspiration,  without  any 
well-considered  plan,  or  any  determinate  object.  He  has 
higher  ideas  of  his  vocation  than  to  trust  to  some  lucky  mo- 
ment, or  to  ring  changes  on  a  few  set  phrases.  No  intelli- 
gent man  can  read  his  Prefaces  and  Notes,  without  being 
convinced  that  the  Poet  has  accurately  studied  the  mental 
and  moral  faculties.  Whether  his  doctrines  are  right  or 
wrong,  he  has  well  considered  them,  and  has  made  them  the 
foundation  of  his  claim  as  a  poet.  We  do  not  say  that  the 
reader  must  think  in  all  respects  like  his  author,  in  order  to 
derive  pleasure  and  instruction  from  his  writings.  Words- 
worth has  many  detached  passages  of  singular  power  and 
beauty,  open  to  the  comprehension  and  love  of  all.  The 
deep  pathos  and  perfect  nature  of  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
first  two  books  of  the  Excursion,  will  find  a  response  in  ev- 
ery heart  which  is  not  utterly  dead.  But  a  deeper  mean- 
ing frequently  pervades  a  poem.  Fine  views  of  thought 
intertwine  themselves  in  the  texture  of  a  piece,  which  is  out- 
wardly unassuming  and  simple.  This  is  eminently  the  case 
in  the  poems  where  imagination  and  reflection  are  predom- 
inant. It  is  not  required  of  an  author,  that  he  should  at  all 
times  remain  on  a  level  with  an  indolent  reader's  compre- 
hension. There  are  passages  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
and  in  Milton,  which,  wholly  apart  from  their  costume,  re- 
quire from  him  who  opens  the  page  the  closest  study.  The 
groundwork  of  the  poem,  the  nature  of  the  conception,  will 
not  be  obvious  to  an  unreflecting  mind.  Now,  among  the 
mass  of  educated  people  in  this  country,  there  is  no  dis- 
tinct apprehension  of  the  peculiar  merits  of  Wordsworth, 
because  they  have  not  themselves  any  clear  conception  of 
the  powers  of  mind  requisite  in  the  production  of  poetry. 


190  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

They  have  never  studied  their  own  powers.  To  habits  of 
calm  meditation  upon  the  laws  of  their  own  inward  being, 
they  are  strangers.  This  may  not  be  altogether  their  own 
fault.  So  far  as  we  understand  the  case,  there  is  no  pre- 
dominant system  of  ethics,  or  of  mental  philosophy,  in  the 
country.  Paley  is  taught  in  some  of  our  colleges,  rather 
because  his  errors  furnish  a  good  starting-point  for  the 
teacher's  lecture  or  questions,  than  from  any  belief  in  his 
doctrines.  Locke  and  Dr.  Brown  retain  a  doubtful  suprem- 
acy in  some  institutions,  while  in  others  Dugald  Stewart  is 
recovering  his  lost  honors.  Consequently,  the  minds  of 
pupils  are  afloat  on  these  great  subjects.  When  a  poet  ap- 
peal's, who  claims  to  be  a  philosopher,  who  asserts  that  gen- 
uine poetry  is  as  permanent  as  pure  science,  who  main- 
tains that  a  poet  "  binds  together  by  knowledge  and  passion 
the  vast  empire  of  human  society,  as  it  is  spread  over  the 
whole  earth,  and  over  all  time,"  he  cannot  in  such  society 
receive  a  general  and  cordial  welcome.  Milton  was  little 
heard  of  in  England  till  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  after  the  publication  of  his  poems.  In  eleven  years 
only  three  thousand  copies  of  Paradise  Lost  were  sold. 
Only  two  editions  of  the  Works  of  Shakspeare  were  sold  in 
more  than  forty  years,  from  1623  to  1664.  Spenser,  if 
known,  is  scarcely  read  in  the  United  States.  His  Faerie 
Queene  has  not  been  republished  in  this  country,  so  far  as 
our  knowledge  extends.  Who  is  found  reading  the  Canter- 
bury Tales  of  Chaucer,  or  the  Reliques  of  Ancient  English 
Poetry  ? 

This  leads  us  to  remark,  that  the  powers  of  the  English 
language  are  not  understood  as  they  should  be,  for  the 
proper  mastery  of  a  poet  like  Wordsworth.  The  history  of 
some  English  words,  it  has  been  remarked,  is  worth  more 


THE  POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  191 

than  the  history  of  a  campaign.  Many  words  in  Paradise 
Lost  are  absolutely  insusceptible  of  exchange.  Removal 
destroys  the  stanza.  So  in  some  of  Wordsworth's  sonnets. 
There  is  a  perfect  adaptation  between  the  word  and  the 
sentiment.  It  lies  in  its  place  like  apples  of  gold  in  pic- 
tures of  silver.  In  other  cases,  a  knowledge  of  the  history 
or  of  the  etymology  of  a  word  or  a  phrase  is  needed,  in 
order  to  the  full  appreciation  of  the  stanza  or  the  poem  in 
which  it  is  found.  This  is  not,  however,  the  age  of  logi- 
cal precision  in  the  use  of  language.  The  scholar  is  not 
often  directed  to  study  the  models  of  severe  classical  beauty. 
Immediate,  practical  effect  is  the  object.  Any  approxima- 
tion towards  a  perfect  style  is  regarded  as  unattainable,  or 
perhaps  undesirable.  Some  of  the  leading  periodical  pub- 
lications arcj  in  our  opinion,  fast  corrupting  the  language. 
Every  thing  is  thrown  off  in  a  smart,  dashing,  impetuous 
style.  Keen,  lively,  pointed  sallies  of  wit  or  nonsense,  as 
the  case  may  be,  are  substituted  for  such  English  as  Addi- 
son and  Playfair  have  given  us.  Truth  is  made  to  bow  at 
the  shrine  of  vigorous  writing.  Originality  is  considered  as 
synonymous  with  odd  terms  in  a  sentence,  or  with  singular 
combinations  of  phraseology.  Some  of  the  British  Maga- 
zines are  filled  with  humorous  articles,  greedily  republished 
in  this  country,  which  are  a  motley  mixture  of  profaneness, 
staring  exclamation-points,  personal  scandal,  innuendoes, 
and  all  other  things,  which  can  show  the  emptiness  of  the 
writer's  brain,  or  degrade  the  language  in  which  he  pro- 
fesses to  write.  We  must  go  back  to  former  days,  when 
Bates  and  Jeremy  Taylor  and  Leighton  and  Milton  gave  us 
specimens  of  the  mature  strength  and  finished  beauty  of  the 
English  tongue,  when  both  the  Saxon  and  the  Greek  roots 
were  duly  honored,  when  massive  richness  of  thought  was 


192  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

» 

equalled  by  the  sweet  music  or  the  consummate  finish  of 
the  diction.  Wordsworth  belongs  to  the  old  school  in  this 
respect.  He  cannot  be  entirely  appreciated  by  such  per- 
sons as  are  indifferent  to  language.  His  words  are  not 
simply  the  costume  of  his  thoughts,  but,  in  many  instances 
at  least,  are  an  integral  part  of  those  thoughts.  We  will 
give  a  specimen  or  two. 

"COMPOSED   UPON  WESTMINSTER  BRIDGE, 

SEPTEaiBER    3,    1803. 

"  Earth  has  not  any  thing  to  show  more  fair  : 
Dull  would  he  be  of  soul,  who  could  pass  by 
A  sight  so  touching  in  its  majesty. 
This  city  now  doth  like  a  garment  wear 
The  beauty  of  the  morning  ;  silent,  bare, 
Ships,  towers,  domes,  theatres,  and  temples  lie 
Open  unto  the  fields,  and  to  the  sky  ; 
All  bright  and  glittering  in  the  smokeless  air. 
Never  did  sun  more  beautifully  steep 
In  his  first  splendor,  valley,  rock,  or  hill  ; 
Ne'er  saw  I,  never  felt,  a  calm  so  deep  ! 
The  river  glideth  at  his  own  sweet  will ! 
Dear  God  !  the  very  houses  seem  asleep  ; 
And  all  that  mighty  heart  is  lying  still." 

Who  could  attempt  to  displace  any  word  in  that  sonnet  .'' 
How  thoroughly  Saxon  in  etymology !  How  select  the  epi- 
thets !  How  distinct  is  every  picture,  and  yet  how  com- 
pact the  whole  great  effect !     Listen  to  the  following  noble 

apostrophe. 

"  1802. 

"  Milton  !  thou  shouldst  be  living  at  this  hour  ; 
England  hath  need  of  thee  ;  she  is  a  fen 
Of  stagnant  waters  ;  altar,  sword,  and  pen, 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  193 

Fireside,  the  heroic  wealth  of  hall  and  bower, 

Have  forfeited  their  ancient,  English  dower 

Of  inward  happiness.     We  are  selfish  men  ; 

O,  raise  us  up  ;  return  to  us  again, 

And  give  us  manners,  virtue,  freedom,  power! 

Thy  soul  was  like  a  Star,  and  dwelt  apart ; 

Thou  hadst  a  voice  whose  sound  was  like  the  sea  ; 

Pure  as  the  naked  heavens,  majestic,  free, 

So  didst  thou  travel  on  life's  common  way, 

Tn  cheerful  godliness  ;  and  yet  thy  heart 

The  lowliest  duties  on  herself  did  lay." 

Who  that  has  read  "  meek  Walton  "  will  not  answer  to 
the  perfect  truth  of  the  following  ? 

"WALTON'S  BOOK   OF   'LIVES.' 

"  There  are  no  colors  in  the  fairest  sky 
So  fair  as  these.     The  feather,  whence  the  pen 
Was  shaped  that  traced  the  lives  of  these  good  men, 
Dropped  from  an  angel's  wing.     With  moistened  eye 
We  read  of  faith  and  purest  charity 
In  statesman,  priest,  and  humble  citizen. 
O,  could  we  copy  their  mild  virtues,  then 
What  joy  to  live,  what  blessedness  to  die  ! 
Methinks  their  very  names  shine  still  and  bright, 
Apart,  like  glow-worms  in  the  woods  of  spring, 
Dr  lonely  tapers  shooting  far  a  light 
That  guides  and  cheers,  —  or  seem,  like  stars  on  high, 
Satellites  burning  in  a  lucid  ring 
Around  meek  Walton's  heavenly  memory." 

In  the  last  volume  of  Wordsworth  are  some  exquisite 
stanzas  on  "  The  Power  of  Sound."  Here  are  the  last 
three.  The  first  alludes  to  the  Pythagorean  theory  of 
numbers  and  music,  with  their  supposed  power  over  the 
motions  of  the  universe. 

A''OL,  II.  17 


194  THE    POETRY    OF   WORDSWORTH. 

"  By  one  pervading  spirit 
Of  tones  and  numbers  all  things  are  controlled, 
As  sages  taught,  where  faith  was  found  to  merit 
Initiation  in  that  mystery  old. 

The  heavens,  whose  aspects  make  our  minds  as  still 
As  they  themselves  appear  to  be, 
Innumerable  voices  fill 
With  everlasting  harmony  ; 
The  towering  headlands,  covered  with  mist, 
Their  feet  among  the  billows,  know 
That  ocean  is  a  mighty  harmonist ; 
Thy  pinions,  universal  air. 
Ever  waving  to  and  fro, 
Are  delegates  of  harmony,  and  bear 
Strains  that  support  the  seasons  in  their  round  ; 
Stern  winter  loves  a  dirge-like  sound. 

"  Break  forth  into  thanksgiving, 
Ye  banded  instruments  of  wind  and  chords ! 
Unite,  to  magnify  the  Ever-living, 
Your  inarticulate  notes  with  the  voice  of  words  ! 
Nor  hushed  be  service  from  the  lowing  mead. 
Nor  mute  the  forest  hum  of  noon. 
Thou  too  be  heard,  lone  eagle  !  freed 
From  snowy  peak  and  cloud,  attune 
Thy  hungry  barkings  to  the  hymn 
Of  joy,  that  from  her  utmost  walls 
The  six  days'  work,  by  flaming  seraphim. 
Transmits  to  heaven  !     As  deep  to  deep 
Shouting  through  one  valley  calls. 
All  worlds,  all  natures,  mood  and  measure  keep 
For  praise  and  ceaseless  gratulation,  poured 
Into  the  ear  of  God,  their  Lord  ! 

"  A  voice  to  light  gave  being  ; 
To  time,  and  man,  his  earth-born  chronicler  : 


THE  POETRY  OF  "WORDSWORTH.  195 

A  voice  shall  finish  doubt  and  dim  foreseeing-, 

And  sweep  away  life's  visionary  stir  ; 

The  trumpet,  (we,  intoxicate  with  pride, 

Arm  at  its  blast  for  deadly  wars,) 

To  archangelic  lips  applied, 

The  grave  shall  open,  quench  the  stars. 

O  Silence  !  are  man's  noisy  years 

No  more  than  moments  of  thy  life  1 

Is  Harmony,  blest  queen  of  smiles  and  tears, 

With  her  smooth  tones  and  discords  just 

Tempered  into  rapturous  strife. 

Thy  destined  bond-slave  ?    No  !  though  earth  be  dust. 

And  vanish,  though  the  heavens  dissolve,  her  stay 

Is  in  the  Word  ;  that  shall  not  pass  away." 

The  poem  entitled  "  Tintern  Abbey,"  under  the  head  of 
Poems  of  the  Imagination,  is  inexpressibly  affecting.  We 
can  copy  but  a  short  paragraph. 

"  I  have  learned 
To  look  on  nature,  not  as  in  the  hour 
Of  thoughtless  youth  ;  but  hearing  oftentimes 
The  still,  sad  music  of  humanity. 
Nor  harsh,  nor  grating,  though  of  ample  power 
To  chasten  and  subdue.     And  I  have  felt 
A  presence  that  disturbs  me  with  the  joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts  ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused. 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns. 
And  the  round  ocean,  and  the  living  air. 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man  ; 
A  motion  and  a  spirit,  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought. 
That  rolls  through  all  things.     Therefore  am  I  still 
A  lover  of  the  meadows,  and  the  woods, 
And  mountains  ;  and  of  all  that  we  behold 


196  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH, 

From  this  green'earth  ;  of  all  the  mighty  world 
Of  eye  and  ear,  hoth  what  they  half  create, 
And  what  perceive ;  well  pleased  to  recognize 
In  nature  and  the  language  of  the  sense. 
The  anchor  of  my  purest  thoughts,  the  nurse, 
The  guide,  the  guardian  of  my  heart,  and  soul 
Of  all  my  moral  being." 

One  effect  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  Mr. 
Wordsworth  will  be  to  enlarge  the  mind,  free  it  from  un- 
worthy prejudices,  and  teach  it  to  hold  familiar  communion 
with  all  the  great  and  good  of  the  race.  How  noble  in 
such  men  to  be  devoid  of  envy.  Hear  him  speak  of  his 
early  calumniators :  "  They  may  have  affected  my  fortune, 
and  thus  my  enjoyments  and  my  means  of  doing  good  ;  but 
they  have  never  wounded  my  feelings,  for  I  never  wrote 
for  popular  applause.  I  felt  that  the  time  would  come 
when  justice  Nvould  be  done;  and  now  I  have  that  justice  ; 
now,  when  the  reward  is  most  sweet,  as  I  am  about  to  end 
my  days."  His  last  volume  is  dedicated  to  the  poet  Rogers. 
The  stanzas  entitled  "  Yarrow  Revisited  "  are  a  memorial 
of  a  day  passed  with  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  other  friends 
visiting  the  banks  of  the  Yarrow,  under  his  guidance,  im- 
mediately before  his  departure  from  Abbotsford  for  Naples, 
in  1831.  In  the  Notes  and  Prefaces  of  the  poet,  there  is 
frequent  and  honorable  mention  of  men,  whom  a  weak  or 
envious  mind  would  have  slandered  or  passed  by  in  silence. 
He  thus  writes  of  an  excellent  lady,  whose  "  Letters  to  the 
Young,"  and  "  Four  Histories,"  some  of  our  readei's  may 
have  seen :  "  She  accompanied  her  husband,  the  Rev. 
William  Fletcher,  to  India,  and  died  of  cholera,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-two  or  thirty-three  years,  on  her  way  from  Shala- 
pore  to  Bombay,  deeply  lamented  by  all  who  knew  her. 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  197 

Her  enthusiasm  was  ardent,  her  piety  steadfast ;  and  her 
great  talents  would  have  enabled  her  to  be  eminently  useful 
in  the  difficult  path  of  life  to  which  she  had  been  called. 
The  opinion  she  entertained  of  her  own  performances, 
given  to  the  world  under  her  maiden  name,  Jewsbury,  was 
modest  and  humble,  and,  indeed,  far  below  their  merits  ;  as 
is  often  the  case  with  those  who  are  making  trial  of  their 
powers  with  a  hope  to  discover  what  they  are  best  fitted  for. 
In  one  quality,  namely,  quickness  in  the  motions  of  her 
mind,  she  was,  in  the  author's  estimation,  unequalled." 

How  different  such  comments  from  the  magisterial  decis- 
ions which  have  sometimes  crushed  youthful  genius  in  the 
germ  !  How  much  nearer  to  the  idea  of  Christian  charity, 
in  this  particular,  are  Scott,  Southey,  and  Wordsworth, 
than  not  a  few  professedly  religious  writers ! 

In  the  ai'ticle  of  moral  purity,  there  are  but  few  poets  in 
the  English  language  who  are  meet  to  be  compared  with 
Wordsworth.  This  delicacy  never  degenerates  into  pru- 
dery or  a  sickly  sentimentality,  such  as  a  recluse  of  the 
Middle  Ages  might  have  exhibited.  Neither  is  it  a  cold 
and  negative  morality,  an  absence  of  positive  infraction 
of  the  laws  of  conscience,  such  as  appears  in  some  of  the 
Essays  of  Hume.  It  flows  from  a  heartfelt  recognition  of 
the  standard  of  right.  It  is  that  good  breeding,  which  has 
the  moral  law  for  its  basis,  far  removed  from  every  thing 
capricious  or  conventional.  Throughout  the  five  volumes 
there  is  a  nice  sense  of  justice;  careful,  discriminating, 
delicate  touches  of  domestic  life ;  entire  freedom  from  the 
use  of  language  which  tends  to  confound  important  distinc- 
tions ;  an  extraordinary  clearness  both  of  mental  and  of 
moral  perceptions. 

In  what  sense  Wordsworth  is  a  religious  poet,  will  be 
17* 


198  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

apparent  from  subsequent  extracts.  He  is  an  earnest  sup- 
porter and  a  devout  member  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  government,  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  the  doctrines, 
and  all  the  glorious  recollections  of  that  communion,  are 
cherished  themes,  and  pervade  much  of  his  poetry.  Wheth- 
er he  might  not  have  more  distinctly  recognized  the  great 
truth  of  the  Christian  system,  we  shall  not  now  attempt  to 
decide.  The  spiritual  being  of  man,  his  dependence  and 
moral  weakness,  his  immortality,  the  glones  of  the  Divine 
Existence,  are  illustrated  frequently  and  with  great  force. 
With  some  expressions  of  the  early  moral  innocence  of 
children,  the  efficacy  of  the  initiatory  Christian  rite,  and  the 
tenderness  with  which  some  errors  are  mentioned,  we  can- 
not sympathize.  The  language  at  least  is  liable  to  miscon- 
struction, and  it  does  not  well  accord  with  sentiments  else- 
where exhibited.  Wordsworth  will  be  read  in  the  better 
days  of  the  Christian  Church.  His  pure  strains  will  be  a 
feast  to  regenerate  spirits.  Beside  Spenser  and  Milton 
and  Cowper,  he  may  take  his  seat  on  the  hill  of  Zion.  For 
the  world's  benefit,  we  are  anxious  that  he  should  be  fully 
identified  with  the  elect  spirits.  Long  has  he  contended 
for  this  high  distinction.     Sweet  and  immortal  his  reward  ! 

Among   the    poems  entitled    "Inscriptions"    is   the  fol- 
lowing. 

"  Not  seldom,  clad  in  radiant  vest, 
Deceitfully  goes  forth  tlie  morn  ; 
Not  seldom  evening  in  the  west 
Sinks  smilingly  forsworn. 

"  The  smoothest  seas  will  sometimes  prove 
To  the  confiding  bark  untrue  ; 
And,  if  she  trust  the  stars  above, 
They  can  be  treacherous  too. 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  199 

"  The  umbrageous  oak,  in  pomp  outspread, 
Full  oft,  when  storms  the  welkin  rend, 
Draws  lightning  down  upon  the  head 
It  promised  to  defend. 

"  But  Thou  art  true.  Incarnate  Lord  I 
Who  didst  vouchsafe  for  man  to  die  ; 
Thy  smile  is  sure,  thy  plighted  word 
No  change  can  falsify  ! 

"  I  bent  before  thy  gracious  throne, 
And  asked  for  peace  with  suppliant  knee  ; 
And  peace  was  given,  —  nor  peace  alone, 
But  faith,  and  hope,  and  ecstasy." 

How  calm  and  Christian-like  is  this,  from  the  "  Evening 
Voluntaries,"  in  his  last  volume  ! 

"  The  sun,  that  seemed  so  mildly  to  retire. 
Flung  back  from  distant  climes  a  streaming  fire, 
Whose  breeze  is  now  subdued  to  tender  gleams, 
Prelude  of  night's  approach  with  soothing  dreams. 
Look  round !  of  all  the  clouds  not  one  is  moving  ; 
'T  is  the  still  hour  of  thinking,  feeling,  loving. 
Silent,  and  steadfast  as  the  vaulted  sky. 
The  boundless  plain  of  waters  seems  to  lie. 
Comes  that  low  sound  from  breezes  rustling  o'er 
The  grass-crowned  headland  that  conceals  the  shore  ? 
No,  't  is  the  earth-voice  of  the  mighty  sea, 
Whispering  how  meek  and  gentle  he  can  be ! 

"  Thou  Power  supreme  !   who,  arming  to  rebuke 
Offenders,  dost  put  off  the  gracious  look, 
And  clothe  thyself  with  terrors  like  the  flood 
Of  ocean  roused  into  his  fiercest  mood, 
Whatever  discipline  thy  will  ordain 
For  the  brief  course  that  must  for  me  remain, 


200  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

Teach  me  with  quick -eared  spirit  to  rejoice 
In  admonitions  of  thy  softest  voice  ! 
Whate'er  the  path  these  mortal  feet  may  trace, 
Breathe  through  my  soul  the  blessing  of  thy  grace. 
Glad  through  a  perfect  love,  a  faith  sincere 
Drawn  from  the  wisdom  that  begins  with  fear  ; 
Glad  to  expand,  and  for  a  season,  free 
From  finite  cares,  to  rest  absorbed  in  Thee." 

At  the  close  of  the  Excursion  is  the  followuig  sublime 

address    to  the   Deity.       It    deserves   a  place   along    with 

Milton's,  Thomson's,  and  Derzhaven's.  It  speaks  to  the 
inmost  soul. 

"  Eternal  Spirit !  universal  God  ! 
Power  inaccessible  to  human  thought 
Save  by  degrees  and  steps  which  Thou  hast  deigned 
To  furnish !  for  this  Image  of  Thyself, 
To  the  infirmity  of  mortal  sense 
Vouchsafed, —  this  local,  transitory  type 
Of  thy  paternal  splendors,  and  the  pomp 
Of  those  who  fill  thy  courts  in  highest  heaven. 
The  radiant  Cherubim, —  accept  the  thanks 
Which  we,  thy  humble  creatures,  here  convened, 
Presume  to  offer  ;  we,  who,  from  the  breast 
Of  the  frail  earth  permitted  to  behold 
The  faint  reflections  only  of  thy  face, 
Are  yet  exalted,  and  in  soul  adore. 
Such  as  they  are,  who  in  thy  presence  stand 
Unsullied,  incorruptible,  and  drink 
Imperishable  majesty  streamed  forth 
From  thy  empyreal  Throne,  the  elect  of  earth 
Shall  be,  divested  at  the  appointed  hour 
Of  all  dishonor,  cleansed  from  mortal  stain. 
Accomplish,  then,  their  number;  and  conclude 
Time's  weary  course !    Or  if,  by  thy  decree 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  201 

The  consummation  that  will  come  by  stealth 

Be  yet  far  distant,  let  thy  Word  prevail, 

Oh  !  let  thy  Word  prevail,  to  take  away 

The  sting  of  human  nature.    Spread  the  Law, 

As  it  is  written  in  thy  holy  Book, 

Throughout  all  lands  :  let  every  nation  hear 

The  high  behest,  and  every  heart  obey ; 

Both  for  the  love  of  purity,  and  hope, 

Which  it  affords  to  such  as  do  thy  will. 

And  persevere  in  good,  that  they  shall  rise, 

To  have  a  nearer  view  of  Thee,  in  heaven. 

Father  of  Good  !  this  prayer  in  bounty  grant, 

In  mercy  grant  it  to  thy  wretched  sons. 

Then,  nor  till  then,  shall  persecution  cease, 

And  cruel  wars  expire.     The  way  is  marked, 

The  guide  appointed,  and  the  ransom  paid. 

Alas  !  the  nations,  who  of  yore  received 

These  tidings,  and  in  Christian  temples  meet 

The  sacred  truth  to  acknowledge,  linger  still ; 

Preferring  bonds  and  darkness  to  a  state 

Of  holy  freedom,  by  redeeming  love 

Proffered  to  all,  while  yet  on  earth  detained. 

So  fare  the  many  ;  and  the  thoughtful  few, 

Who  in  the  anguish  of  their  souls  bewail 

This  dire  perverseness,  cannot  choose  but  ask, 

Shall  it  endure?    Shall  enmity  and  strife. 

Falsehood  and  guile,  be  left  to  sow  their  seed, 

And  the  kind  never  perish  1     Is  the  hope 

Fallacious,  or  shall  righteousness  obtain 

A  peaceable  dominion,  wide  as  earth. 

And  ne'er  to  fail  1     Shall  that  blest  day  arrive 

When  they,  whose  choice  or  lot  it  is  to  dwell 

In  crowded  cities,  without  fear  shall  live 

Studious  of  mutual  benefit ;  and  he, 

Whom  morning  wakes,  among  sweet  dews  and  flowers 


202  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

Of  every  clime,  to  till  the  lonely  field, 
Be  happy  in  himself?    The  law  of  faith, 
Working  through  love,  such  conquest  shall  it  gain, 
Such  triumph  over  sin  and  guilt  achieve  ] 
Almighty  Lord,  thy  further  grace  impart ! 
And  with  that  help  the  wonder  shall  be  seen 
Fulfilled,  the  hope  accomplished  ;  and  thy  praise 
Be  sung  with  transport  and  unceasing  joy. 

"  Whence  but  from  Thee,  the  true  and  only  God, 
And  from  the  faith  derived  through  Him  who  bled 
Upon  the  cross,  this  marvellous  advance 
Of  good  from  evil ;  as  if  one  extreme 
Were  left,  —  the  other  gained  ?     O  ye,  who  come 
To  kneel  devoutly  in  yon  reverend  pile. 
Called  to  such  office  by  the  peaceful  sound 
Of  Sabbath  bells  ;  and  ye,  who  sleep  in  earth, 
All  cares  forgotten,  round  its  hallowed  walls  I 
For  you,  in  presence  of  this  little  band 
Gathered  together  on  the  green  hill-side. 
Your  pastor  is  emboldened  to  prefer 
Vocal  thanksgivings  to  the  Eternal  King  ; 
Whose  love,  whose  counsel,  whose  commands,  have  made 
Your  very  poorest  rich  in  peace  of  thought 
And  in  good  works  ;  and  him,  who  is  endowed 
With  scantiest  knowledge,  master  of  all  truth 
Which  the  salvation  of  his  soul  requires. 
Conscious  of  that  abundant  favor  showered 
On  you,  the  children  of  my  humble  care,  — 
On  your  abodes,  and  this  beloved  land. 
Our  birthplace,  home,  and  country,  while  on  earth 
We  sojourn,  —  loudly  do  I  utter  thanks 
With  earnest  joy,  that  will  not  be  suppressed. 
These  barren  rocks,  your  stern  inheritance  ; 
These  fertile  fields  that  recompense  your  pains  ; 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH.  203 

The  shadowy  vale,  the  sunny  mountain-top  ; 
Woods  waving  in  the  wind  their  lofty  heads, 
Or  hushed  ;  the  roaring  waters,  or  the  still  ; 
They  see  the  offering  of  my  lifted  hands  : 
They  hear  my  lips  present  their  sacrifice  : 
They  know  if  I  be  silent,  morn  or  even  : 
For,  though  in  whispers  speaking,  the  full  heart 
Will  find  a  vent ;  and  thought  is  praise  to  Him, 
Audible  praise  to  Thee,  Omniscient  Mind, 
From  whom  all  gifts  descend,  all  blessings  flow  !  " 

Very  few  poets  are  more  practical  than  Wordsworth. 
His  pages  are  crowded  with  sententious  maxims,  with 
clear,  compact,  and  beautifully  expressed  truths.  We  will 
take  a  few  at  random. 

"  O  Sir  I  the  good  die  first ; 
And  they,  whose  hearts  are  dry  as  summer  dust. 
Burn  to  the  socket." 

"  But  know  we  not  that  he,  who  intermits 
The  appointed  task  and  duties  of  the  day, 
Untunes  full  oft  the  pleasures  of  the  day, 
Checking  the  finer  spirits  that  refuse 
To  flow,  when  purposes  are  lightly  changed  ]  " 

"  The  food  of  hope 
Is  meditated  action  ;  robbed  of  this, 
Her  sole  support,  she  languishes  and  dies." 

"  Rightly  is  it  said. 
That  man  descends  into  the  Vale  of  years  ; 
Yet  have  I  thought  that  we  might  also  speak. 
And  not  presumptuously,  I  trust,  of  age, 
As  of  a  final  Eminence,  though  bare 
In  aspect,  and  forbidding,  yet  a  point 
On  which  't  is  not  impossible  to  sit 


204  THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH. 

In  awful  sovereignty,  —  a  place  of  power,  — 
A  throne,  which  may  be  likened  unto  his, 
Who,  in  some  placid  day  of  summer,  looks 
Down  from  a  mountain-top." 

"  Our  life  is  turned 
Out  of  her  course,  wherever  man  is  made 
An  offering,  or  a  sacrifice,  a  tool 
Or  implement,  a  passive  thing  employed 
As  a  brute  mean,  without  acknowledgment 
Of  common  right  or  interest  in  the  end." 

•'  The  primal  duties  shine  aloft,  like  stars; 
The  charities,  that  soothe,  and  heal,  and  bless, 
Are  scattered  at  the  feet  of  man,  like  flowers." 

"  Say,  what  is  honor?     'T  is  the  finest  sense 
Of  justice  which  the  human  mind  can  frame, 
Intent  each  lurking  frailty  to  disclaim, 
And  guard  the  way  of  life  from  all  offence 
Suffered  or  done." 

"  Sweetest  melodies 
Are  those  that  are  by  distance  made  more  sweet. 
Whose  mind  is  but  the  mind  of  his  own  eyes, 
He  is  a  slave  :  the  meanest  we  can  meet ! 

Our  limits  forbid  us  to  proceed  further.  The  task  is 
pleasant,  and  we  have  not  known  where  to  stop,  or  what  to 
extract.  Our  copy  of  the  Excursion  is  full  of  pencillings. 
Then  there  are  the  "  Brothers,"  "  Ode  on  the  Intimations 
of  Immortality  from  the  Recollections  of  Childhood,"  "Ode 
to  Duty,"  several  of  the  "  Sonnets  to  Liberty,"  and  the 
"  Evening  Voluntaries,"  in  the  last  volume  ;  all  of  these 
we  should  have  been  glad  to  copy.  It  is  truly  refreshing 
to  read  such  poetry.     It  calms  the  spirit,  and  fills  it  with 


THE    POETRY    OF    WORDSWORTH,  205 

charity  towards  all  mankind.  It  is  employing  the  music 
of  angels  in  impressing  great  truths  on  the  mind.  It  puri- 
fies the  domestic  aflections,  and  fills  them  with  a  serene 
and  blessed  light.  It  prepares  the  mind  for  the  worship  of 
the  only  Fair,  and  the  only  Good.  It  teaches  to  discrimi- 
nate sacred  poetry  with  true  taste.  Wordsworth,  like  Mil- 
ton, is  a  Hebrew  in  soul.  He  knows  well  how  to  play  on 
"  David's  harp  of  solemn  sound." 

We  ought,  perhaps,  to  suggest  to  our  readers  the  impor- 
tance of  studying  the  Prefaces  of  Wordsworth.  To  a  full 
appreciation  of  his  merits  they  are  indispensable.  If  the 
reader  should  not  agree  with  all  the  positions  there  laid 
down,  it  is  but  right  that  the  Poet  should  be  heard  on  a 
subject  which  he  has  closely  studied  for  forty  or  fifty  years, 
and  eloquently  illustrated.  We  had  prepared  a  view  of 
his  theory,  with  corresponding  illustrative  extracts  from 
his  poems,  but  on  the  whole  concluded  it  best  to  withhold 
it.  If  what  we  have  done  shall  be  the  means  of  direct- 
ing one  of  our  readers  to  the  writings  of  this  truly  great 
poet,  from  whose  pen  have  flowed 

"  The  highest,  holiest  raptures  of  the  lyre, 
And  wisdom  married  to  immortal  verse," 

we  shall  receive  an  abundant  reward. 


16 


REASONS  FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW 
LANGUAGE.* 


The  sixth  article  of  the  Constitution  of  this  Seminary 
prescribes,  that  under  the  head  of  Sacred  Literature  shall 
be  included  "  Lectures  on  the  formation,  preservation,  and 
transmission  of  the  sacred  volume ;  on  the  languages  in 
which  the  Bible  was  originally  written  ;  on  the  Septuagint 
version  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  on  the  peculiarities  of 
the  language  and  style  of  the  New  Testament,  resulting 
from  this  version  and  other  causes ;  on  the  history,  charac- 
ter, use,  and  authority  of  the  versions  and  manuscripts  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments ;  on  the  canons  of  Biblical 
criticism ;  on  the  authority  of  the  several  books  of  the  sa- 
cred code  ;  on  the  apocryphal  books  of  both  Testaments ;  on 
modern  translations  of  the  Bible,  more  particularly  on  the 
history  and  character  of  our  English  version ;  and  also 
critical  lectures  on  the  various  readings  and  difficult  pas- 
sages in  the  sacred  writings." 

This  may  justly  be  regarded  as  a  comprehensive  and 
well-condensed  statement  of  the  main  points  in  a  course  of 

*  This  Address  was  delivered  by  Professor  Edwards,  at  his  Inaugura- 
tion into  the  Professorship  of  Hebrew  Literature  at  Andover,  January 
18th,  1838,  and  was  published  in  the  Biblical  Kepository,  July,  1838. 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.        207 

sacred  literature.  It  may,  possibly,  be  considered  as  an 
uncommonly  liberal  outline,  if  we  take  into  account  the 
period  in  which  it  was  framed.  It  would  have  received, 
however,  the  cordial  subscription  of  the  earliest  planters  of 
New  England. 

John  Cotton,  the  first  minister  of  Boston,  was  able  to 
converse  in  Hebrew.*  Of  Samuel  Whiting,  of  Lynn,  it 
was  said,  "  that  he  was  especially  accurate  in  Hebrew,  in 
which  primitive  and  expressive  language  he  took  great  de- 
light." Of  the  very  first  settlers  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  not 
less  than  twenty  had  been  educated  at  the  English  univer- 
sities. The  appointed  course  of  studies  in  Harvard  College, 
at  its  origin,  embraced  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Syriac.t  Mr. 
Dunster,  the  first  President,  was  understood  to  have  been 
well  acquainted  with  the  Oriental  languages.  J  Mr.  Chauncy, 
his  successor,  was  admirably  skilled  in  the  learned  lan- 
guages, particularly  the  Oriental.     In  his  acquisition  of  the 

*  "  Wherein  this  is  not  unworthy  the  taking  notice  of,  that  when 
the  poser  came  to  examine  him  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  the  place  that 
he  took  trial  of  him  by  was  that  Isaiah  iii.,  against  the  excessive  bravery 
of  the  haughty  daughters  of  Zion ;  which  hath  more  hard  words  in  it, 
than  any  place  of  the  Bible  within  so  short  a  compass  ;  and  therefore, 
though  a  present  construction  and  resolution  thereof  might  have  put  a 
good  Hebrician  to  a  stand,  yet  such  was  his  dexterity,  as  made  those 
difficult  words  facile,  and  rendered  him  a  prompt  respondent."  —  Life 
of  Cotton,  by  John  Norton. 

t  "  The  fifth  day  reads  Hebrew,  and  the  Easterne  Tongues.  Gram- 
mar to  the  first  yeare,  houre  the  8th.  To  the  2d,  Chaldee,  at  the  9th 
houre.  To  the  3d,  Syriack  at  the  10th  houre.  Afternoone.  The  first 
yeare  practise  in  the  Bible  at  the  2d  houre.  The  2d,  in  Ezra  and 
Daniel,  at  the  3d  houre.  The  3d,  at  the  4th  houre,  in  Trostius  New 
Testament."  —  New  England's  First  Fruits.     London,  1643. 

J  It  was  on  this  account,  probably,  that  he  was  employed  to  "  revise 
and  publish  the  Bay  Psalm  Book,"  printed  at  Cambridge  in  1640. 


208         STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE. 

Hebrew  he  derived  no  small  benefit,  during  the  space  of  a 
year,  from  the  conversation  of  a  Jew.  He  was  the  friend 
of  Archbishop  Usher,  and  had  been  successively  Professor 
of  Hebrew,  and  of  Greek,  at  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
England.  When  he  attended  prayers  in  the  hall  at  Har- 
vard College,  in  the  morning,  he  usually  expounded  a  chap- 
ter of  the  Old  Testament,  which  was  first  read  from  He- 
brew by  one  of  his  pupils ;  and  in  the  evening,  a  chapter 
of  the  New  Testament,  read  from  the  Greek.  Thomas 
Thacher,  the  first  minister  of  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston, 
having  spent  several  years  under  the  tuition  of  President 
Chauncy,  while  the  latter  was  minister  of  Scituate,  became 
well  skilled  in  Arabic,  Syriac,  and  Hebrew  ;  in  the  last- 
named  language  he  composed  a  lexicon.*  The  thesis, 
which  Cotton  Matlier  maintained,  when  he  received  his  sec- 
ond degree,  was  "  the  divine  origin  of  the  Hebrew  points," 
though  he  afterwards  saw  reason  to  change  his  mind,  and 
to  hold  to  the  contrary  opinion  to  the  last.  During  seven 
years  after  his  graduation,  he  prepared  students  for  admis- 
sion to  college,  hearing  recitations  every  day  in  the  original 
Scriptures,  giving  particular  attention  to  the  Hebrew. 

In  the  burying-ground  in  the  town  of  Northborough,  in 
this  State,  there  is  a  monument,  on  which  the  following  is 
the  inscription  in  part : 

"  A  native  branch  of  Judah  see, 

Which,  once  from  oft'  its  olive  broke, 
Regrafted  from  the  living  tree, 
Of  the  reviving  sap  partook." 

This  "  native  branch  "  was  Judah  IMonis,  the  first  regular 
instructor  of  Hebrew  at  Harvard  College.     He  was  by  birth 

*  Wisner's  Hist,  of  the  Old  South  Church,  p.  12. 


STUDY    OF    THE    IlEBEEW    LANGUAGE.  209 

and  religion  a  Jew,  but  embraced  the  Christian  faith,  and 
was  pubhcly  baptized  at  Cambridge,  in  1722.  The  Rev, 
Dr.  Benjamin  Colman,  of  Boston,  preached  a  sermon  on  the 
occasion,  which  was  published.  In  the  preface,  he  remarks, 
that  "  Mr.  Monis  is  a  master  and  critic  in  the  Hebrew.  He 
reads,  speaks,  writes,  and  interprets  it  with  great  readiness 
and  accuracy,  and  is  truly  tidaKTtKos,  opt  to  teach.  His  dil- 
igence and  industry,  together  with  his  ability,  are  known 
unto  many,  who  have  seen  his  Grammar  and  Nomenclator, 
Hebrew  and  English,  as  also  his  translation  of  the  Creed 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism 
into  Hebrew."  *  For  his  Hebrew  Grammar  the  Corporation 
paid  him  £  35.  He  made  use  of  the  vowel-points  in  this 
Grammar,  and  insisted  that  they  were  essential  to  the  right 
pronunciation  of  the  language.  He  resigned  his  office  in 
1760.  On  the  7th  of  September,  in  the  same  year,  the 
Corporation  voted,  "  that  Sir  Sewall  be  the  Hebrew  instruc- 
tor in  Harvard  College  this  year."  He  was  rechosen  in 
1762  and  1763.  In  1764  the  Hancock  Professorship  of  the 
Hebrew  and  other  Oriental  Languages  was  established,  from 
a  legacy  of  Thomas  Hancock,  an  opulent  merchant  of  Bos- 
ton, who  died  August  1,  1764.  This  was  the  first  profes- 
sorship founded  in  America  by  a  native.     Stephen  Sewall 

*  It  was  voted  by  the  Corporation,  April  30th,  1722,  "  that  Mr.  Judah 
Monis  be  improved  as  an  instructor  in  the  Hebrew  language  in  the  Col- 
lege," and  that  his  salary  for  one  year  should  be  £  70.  All  the  under- 
graduates, except  the  Freshmen  and  such  others  as  should  be  exempted 
by  the  Faculty,  were  required  to  attend  his  instructions  on  four  days  in 
the  week.  He  was  rechosen  in  1723,  and  in  1724.  He  then  appears 
to  have  become  a  permanent  instructor.  See  Worcester  Magazine,  II. 
180,  and  Peirce's  Hist,  of  Harvard  University,  p.  232. 
18* 


210  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE. 

was  elected  the  first  professor  on  this  foundation.  His 
qualifications  for  the  office  were  so  preeminent,  that  he 
was  probably  the  only  one  who  was  thought  of  to  fill  it. 
Besides  his  instructions  in  Hebrew  and  Chaldee,  he  was 
required  to  teach,  in  a  more  private  way,  such  students 
as  should  desire  it,  in  the  Samaritan,  the  Syriac,  and  the 
Arabic.  No  American,  previously,  had  acquired  so  exten- 
sive an  acquaintance  with  Eastern  learning  as  Professor 
Sewall.  His  Greek  odes  were  praised  by  the  English  re- 
viewers. He  corresponded  with  Kennicott  and  other  learn- 
ed foreign  Orientalists.  He  prepared  a  Greek  Prosody  and 
Lexicon,  a  Hebrew  Grammar,  a  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  Lex- 
icon (now  in  manuscript  in  the  library  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity), and  pushed  his  studies  into  the  Ethiopic  and  Persian. 

President  Stiles  speaks  of  Dr.  Cutler,  the  second  Rector 
of  Yale  College,  as  a  "  great  Hebrician  and  Orientalist.'" 
The  vehement  literary  ardor  of  Dr.  Stiles  himself  is  well 
known.  He  would  actually  compass  sea  and  land  to  get 
the  sight  of  a  Jewish  rabbi,  or  a  piece  of  vellum.  In  May, 
1767,  says  his  biographer,  Dr.  Holmes,  he  commenced  the 
study  of  the  Hebrew.  In  the  first  five  days,  he  read  the 
Psalms.  In  one  month,  he  translated  all  the  Psalms  from 
Hebrew  into  Latin.  In  1768,  he  commenced  Arabic,  Syri- 
ac, Chaldee,  and  Rabbinic.  In  1769,  he  copied  an  Arabic 
volume,  and  translated  it  from  the  original.  He  then,  as 
he  terms  it,  "  dipped  into  Persian  and  Coptic." 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  however,  the 
interest  in  Oriental  literature  had  greatly  declined.  The 
study  of  Hebrew  was  not,  indeed,  entirely  neglected  in  the 
colleges  which  more  recently  came  into  existence.  Profes- 
sor John  Smith,  of  Dartmouth  College,  gave  instruction  in 
Hebrew,  and  compiled  a  grammar  of  the  language. 


STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE.  211 

The  knowledge  of  Eastern  learning,  possessed  by  the 
fathers  of  New  England,  was  doubtless,  in  some  instances, 
curious  and  ill-digested,  possibly  superficial,  rather  than 
profound  and  practical.  When  we  take  into  account,  how- 
ever, the  ruggedness  of  the  times,  the  pressure  of  other  and 
indispensable  duties,  and  the  very  imperfect  lexical  and 
grammatical  helps,  we  cannot  but  be  astonished  that  so 
much  progress  was  made.  More  attention,  comparatively, 
was  bestowed  on  the  study  of  Hebrew  during  the  first  fifty 
years  after  the  settlement  of  New  England,  than  has  been 
given  to  it  at  any  subsequent  period,  not  excepting  the  pres- 
ent century.  No  generation  of  Biblical  students  has  arisen 
in  England,  which  can  be  compared  to  the  Ushers,  the  Sel- 
dens,  the  Lightfoots,  the  Pococks,  the  Castells,  and  the  Wal- 
tons  of  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Dr.  Light- 
foot  gave  his  invaluable  Oriental  library  to  Harvard  College. 
The  flame  of  sacred  learning  which  rose  high  in  their  Trin- 
ity and  Immanuel,  was  rekindled  on  our  wintry  shores  and 
amid  our  unbroken  forests.  Our  fathers  did  not  avail  them- 
selves of  the  common  excuse,  want  of  time,  for  the  neg- 
lect of  the  study  in  question.  One  of  these  venerable 
men,  who  had  read  himself  blind,  and  who  was  accustomed 
to  derive  consolation  from  the  thought,  that  his  eyes  would 
be  opened  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  performed  the 
duties  of  a  laborious  parish  minister,  in  a  new  settlement, 
and  also  of  a  teacher  of  youth.  Another  individual,  who 
was  the  pastor  of  an  English  church,  a  preacher  to  several 
native  congregations,  and  the  creator  of  an  Indian  language, 
did  not  lack  time  to  pursue  his  Hebrew  studies. 

But  it  is  not  my  intention  to  dwell  on  these  interesting 
facts  in  the  early  records  of  New  England.  Before  pro- 
ceeding to  the  main  purpose  of  this  Address,  I  wish  to  fortify 


212  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE. 

myself  with  good  examples,  and  to  show  that  ancient  pre- 
cedents are  in  my  favor. 

I  shall  attempt,  in  the  ensuing  remarks,  to  adduce  some 
reasons  why  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language  should  be 
made  a  part  of  a  liberal  education,  and  be  put  into  the  same 
category  with  Latin  and  Greek.  There  is  no  adequate 
cause  for  confining  the  study  to  a  small  part  of  one  of  the 
professions.  Why  should  it  not  be  considered  as  the  com- 
mon privilege  of  all  the  professions  ?  I  know  of  but  one 
argument  against  its  introduction  into  our  present  courses 
of  collegiate  study  ;  —  they  are  already  preoccupied  and 
crowded  with  other  branches  of  learning.  Were  one  or 
two  additional  years,  however,  allowed  to  the  preparatory 
schools  ;  were  the  elements  of  Latin  and  Greek  thoroughly 
mastered  at  our  academies,  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  as  they 
are  at  two  or  three  of  them,  —  an  opening  might  be  found 
somewhere  in  the  four  college  years  for  the  histories  of 
Moses  and  for  the  songs  of  David.  No  considerate  man 
would  dislodge  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics  from  the  place 
which  they  now  occupy.  Still,  Isaiah  is  in  all  respects, 
in  simplicity,  in  fire,  in  originality,  in  sublimity,  as  worthy 
of  study  as  Homer.  The  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  will 
not  yield  to  the  Elegies  of  Tyi'tseus.  These  things  ought 
to  be  done,  while  the  other  should  not  be  left  undone. 

L  An  argument  for  the  study  of  Hebrew  may  be  derived 
from  the  fact,  that  great  eminence  in  the  pursuit,  on  the 
part  of  a  few  individuals,  cannot  be  expected  in  the  absence 
of  a  general  cultivation  of  the  language. 

It  has  been  argued,  that  we  need  a  few  men,  well  skilled 
in  the  original  Scriptures,  to  serve  as  defenders  of  the  faith 
when  attacked  on  critical  grounds,  while  the  great  body  of 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.         213 

the  clergy  and  of  the  educated  laity  may  safely  neglect,  or 
but  imperfectly  acquire,  the  branch  of  knowledge  in  ques- 
tion. That  this  general  position  is  untenable,  it  were  per- 
fectly easy  to  demonstrate.  Of  the  ten  or  twelve  thou- 
sand ministers  of  Christ  in  the  United  States,  more  than 
ten,  or  fifty,  or  one  hundred,  or  one  thousand,  ought  to  be 
intimately  conversant  with  the  original  documents  of  their 
faith.  Allowing,  however,  that  a  few  men,  well  trained  as 
original  investigators,  would  meet  the  exigency,  still  we  con- 
tend, that  this  small  number  could  not  be  raised  up  amidst 
a  surrounding  ignorance,  or  a  general  apathy,  in  relation  to 
the  pursuit.  No  one  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the 
world,  or  with  the  nature  of  man,  can  entertain  anexpec  - 
tation  so  fallacious. 

"Why  is  England  destitute,  and  why  has  she  always  been 
destitute,  of  great  masters  in  music  ?  Because  her  people 
have  no  taste  for  it.  It  is  not  taught  in  her  schools.  There 
is  no  chord  running  through  her  bustling  population,  which 
a  mighty  minstrel,  rising  up,  could  touch.  It  is  the  flight 
of  the  shuttle,  and  the  stroke  of  the  hammer,  for  which  Eng- 
land has  ears,  —  none  for  the  charming  symphony  that 
wakens  raptures  high.  Why  has  Germany  produced  Han- 
del, Haydn,  Mozart,  Beethoven,  Weber,  and  nearly  all  the 
other  distinguished  original  composers  of  music  ?  Because 
these  men  could  be  understood  and  relished  all  over  Ger- 
many. Every  peasant  is  a  singer ;  every  family  is  an 
orchestra.  Her  entire  population  is  impregnated  with  the 
spirit  of  song.  It  is  considered  to  be  no  more  difficult 
nor  remarkable  to  read  and  write  music  in  the  schools, 
than  it  is  to  read  and  write  language.  This  universal  dif- 
fusion of  the  musical  taste  does  not  ci'amp  genius,  or  pre- 
vent the  rise  of  great  men ;  on  the  contrary,  it  enlivens 


214  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE. 

genius,  and  creates  masters  who  become  the  teachers  of 
Christendom  * 

Why  has  France  been  eminent  above  other  nations  for 
mathematical  development,  so  that  we  can  hardly  count  up 
her  Clairauts,  Lalandes,  Laplaces,  Lagranges,  Biots,  Ara- 
gos  ?  Because  mathematics  have  been  highly  honored  by 
sovereign  and  by  people,  not  merely  in  the  practical  appli- 
cations, but  in  the  most  abstract  analyses.  Her  scientific 
men  have  not  risen  up  alone,  like  a  single  cedar  on  the  sides 
of  Lebanon.  Multitudes  of  young  men,  educated  in  her 
schools  and  sent  forth  in  her  armies,  have  been  eminent 
mathematicians. 

Sacred  literature  holds  out  like  examples.  England,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  had  a  constellation  of  profound  lin- 
guists. Learned  travellers  were  despatched  to  the  East ; 
manuscripts  and  books  were  collected ;  Oriental  professor- 
ships were  founded  ;  archbishops  laid  out  their  revenues  in 
buying  coins.  Cromwell,  "  who  chose  men  for  places  and 
not  places  for  men,"  opened  his  republican  chest.  Trans- 
lations, collations,  and  gigantic  polyglots  were  the  result. 
While  the  general  interest  continued,  eminent  scholars  were 
not  wanting. 

Thus  it  is  in  Germany.     Her  Biblical  scholars,  who  are 

*  "  I  always  loved  music  ;  whoso  hath  skill  in  this  art,  the  same  is 
of  good  kind,  fitted  for  all  things  ;  we  must  of  necessity  maintain 
music  in  schools ;  a  schoolmaster  ought  to  have  skill  in  music  ;  other- 
wise, I  would  not  regard  him,  neither  should  we  ordain  young  fellows 
to  the  office  of  preaching,  except  they  have  been  before  well  exercised 
and  practised  in  the  school  of  music.  Music  is  a  fair  gift  of  God,  and 
near  allied  to  divinity.  I  would  not  for  a  great  matter  be  destitute  of 
the  small  skill  in  music  which  I  have.  The  youth  ought  to  be  brought 
up  and  accustomed  to  this  art,  for  it  maketh  fine  and  expert  people."  — 
Luther's  Table  Talk,  London,  1652,  p.  500. 


STUDY    OF    THE   HEBREW    LANGUAGE.  215 

known  the  world  over,  did  not  rise  up  isolated  without  synn- 
pathy  or  encouragement.  All  the  Middle  and  most  of  the 
North  of  Europe  were  spectators  or  competitors.  Hosts  of 
ardent  scholars  were  pressing  on  behind  them.  They  were 
borne  upward  by  an  impulse  which  they  could  not  resist. 
Outward  things  combined  with  the  inward  resolution,  and 
contributed  materially  to  the  result. 

It  is  not  denied,  that  there  are  apparent  exceptions  to  this 
position.  It  has  been  strenuously  argued,  that  a  state  of 
semi-barbarism  is  the  most  favorable  for  eminence  in  some 
of  the  fine  arts,  particularly  in  poetry.  David,  it  has  been 
said,  reached  by  one  bound  the  highest  place  in  lyric  com- 
position. Homer  flourished  when  the  Greeks  lived  in  caves, 
and  fed  on  acorns.  Yet  these  are  not  to  be  viewed  alto- 
gether as  exceptions.  The  people  who  liad  in  their  remem- 
brance such  strains  as  the  sister  of  Moses  sung  at  the  Red 
Sea,  such  words  as  Moses  himself  delivered  on  the  plains  of 
Moab,  such  triumphal  songs  as  that  of  Deborah,  by  the 
brook  Kishon,  could  not  but  furnish  many  minds  kindred  to 
that  of  David.  And  it  is  not  certain  but  that  Homer  has 
collected  the  spoils  of  a  thousand  preceding  or  contemporary 
bards,  whose  names  have  faded  away,  partly  in  the  accidents 
of  time,  and  not  merely  through  his  own  transcendent  efful- 
gence. 

In  every  department  of  labor,  men  are  made  for  each 
other.  They  need  the  cheering  sympathy  and  the  gener- 
ous cooperation  of  fellow-laborers.  Were  there  none  to 
share  the  pleasures  of  success,  one  half  of  its  value  would 
be  wanting.  A  modest  man  does  not  wish  to  acquire  lan- 
guages, that  he  may  be  stared  at  as  the  eighth  wonder  of 
the  world.  Ordinarily  he  will  have  no  heart  to  labor,  un- 
less he  is  surrounded  by  a  community  who  can  properly 


216  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE. 

estimate  his  productions.  What  motive  has  he  to  push 
his  researches  far  beyond  the  point  where  they  would  be 
generally  appreciated  ?  What  security,  moreover,  has  the 
Church,  that  he  will  not  involve  himself  with  them  in  errors 
and  absurdities  ?  He  needs  around  him  the  safeguard  of  a 
vigilant,  as  well  as  the  support  of  a  sympathizing  commu- 
nity. 

II.  My  second  argument  for  the  more  general  study  of 
the  Hebrew  is,  that  we  may^be  better  prepared  to  take  all 
proper  advantage  of  the  immense  stores  of  erudition  on  the 
general  subject,  which  have  been  collected  in  Germany. 

Nothing  is  more  common,  and  nothing  is  more  unfounded, 
than  national  prejudice.  The  name  of  a  Frenchman,  with 
some  persons,  is  a  synonyme  for  the  want  of  all  sound  and 
sober  learning.  With  others,  the  common  sense  and  the 
practical  talent  of  the  Englishman  are  worth  all  the  world 
besides.  Not  a  few  extol  Germany  as  the  great  centre  of 
civilization,  while  her  neighbors  are  groping  in  twilight. 
On  the  other  hand,  multitudes  can  see  nothing  there  but 
cloudy  metaphysics  and  learned  atheism.  But  the  truth  is 
not  contained  in  these  omnivorous  generalizations.  The 
spirit  of  the  Gospel  requires  us  to  judge  of  nations  with  the 
same  candor  and  generous  discrimination,  which  we  should 
exercise  towards  individual  men.  A  liberal  education  fails 
in  one  of  its  most  precious  fruits,  if  it  does  not  lead  the 
scholar  to  estimate  every  part  of  the  earth  in  some  such 
manner  as  we  might  suppose  a  pure-minded  inhabitant  of 
another  world  does.  God  has  set  one  nation  over  against 
another,  as  he  has  the  organs  of  the  human  body,  that  there 
might  be  mutual  dependence  and  cooperation.  His  na- 
tional gifts  are  not  to  be  idolatrously  magnified,  nor  to  be 
sullenly  set  at  naught.     France  needs  the  English  steadi- 


STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE.  217 

ness  and  the  English  wisdom.  England  might  condescend 
to  look  over  the  Channel  for  mathematical  and  medical 
science.  In  the  fields  of  literature,  the  Germans  are  un- 
surpassed. As  intellectual  explorers,  they  rise  up  by 
thousands.  They  have  hardiness  of  body,  iron  resolution, 
patience,  a  sustaining  enthusiasm,  a  spirit  of  vigorous  com- 
petition, a  high  hereditary  character  to  be  maintained,  and 
a  learned  and  munificent  government.  In  the  department 
of  sacred  philology,  their  researches  have  been  extensive 
and  profound,  and  the  results  abundant.  The  Hebrew  and 
its  cognate  dialects  they  have  subjected  to  searching  and 
discriminating  examinations.  Grammars  and  lexicons,  in- 
troductions, commentaries,  geographical  treatises,  elaborate 
essays  on  particular  topics,  and  an  almost  infinite  number 
of  miscellaneous  compositions,  attest  their  wonderful  dili- 
gence. But  these  immense  treasures,  in  order  fully  to 
meet  the  wants  of  our  community,  require  selection  and 
arrangement;  not  simply  a  transfusion  into  our  language, 
but  an  adaptation  to  our  modes  of  thinking,  to  our  taste  and 
methods  in  illustration,  to  our  theological  tendencies,  and  to 
our  general  spirit.  For  many  of  their  peculiarities  as  a 
theorizing  and  unpractical  race,  the  Germans  are  not  in 
fault.  Not  a  few  of  the  channels  of  activity  are  closed  up 
against  them  by  their  government,  which  may  be  called  a 
good,  paternal  despotism.  In  numerous  cases,  the  produc- 
tions of  the  German  press  demand  emendation,  and  puri- 
fication, if  not  an  entire  remodelling.  We  are  not  called 
upon  to  augment  the  stores  of  English  infidelity.  The 
products  of  the  neological  school  may  be  left,  as  a  general 
thing,  to  perish  on  the  ground  which  gave  them  birth.  The 
writings  of  some  of  the  principal  Evangelical  theologians 
of  Germany  have  not,  by  any  means,  all  the  value  which 

VOL.  II.  19 


^18        STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE. 

their  ardent  admirers  attributed  to  them  on  their  first  intro- 
duction to  our  community.  Schleiermacher,  whose  life  is 
regarded  as  an  era  in  Germany,  seemed  to  have  been  long 
struggling  to  attain  what  he  might  have  found  by  opening 
the  pages  of  our  Dr.  Bellamy.  The  notions  which  are  gen- 
erally entertained  on  the  continent  of  Europe  in  respect  to 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  we  should  not  wish  to  have 
transplanted  here. 

With  these  exceptions,  however,  the  Germans  possess 
mines  of  inestimable  wealth,  which  ought  to  be  opened  for 
the  benefit  of  the  world.  They  are  now,  comparatively, 
unworked  or  unknown.  The  social  and  political  circum- 
stances of  the  German  States  are  such  as  not  to  admit  of 
the  employment  and  diffusion  of  their  stores  of  learning  in 
a  thousand  ways  accessible  to  those  who  speak  the  English 
tongue.  A  large  part,  however,  of  their  Biblical  labors  are 
unappreciable  by  us.  To  use  a  favorite  term  of  theirs,  we 
have  not  reached  the  point  of  development.  We  are  not 
able  to  grapple  with  their  learning,  nor  sympathize  with 
their  spirit.  Innumerable  treatises,  bearing  on  important 
points  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament,  remain 
solitary  copies  in  two  or  three  of  our  libraries,  because  Eng- 
lish versions  of  them  could  not  be  sold.  Some  of  these 
essays  would  be  of  essential  aid  to  all  those  foreign  mis- 
sionaries, who  are  called  to  the  office  of  translating  the 
Scriptures. 

Moreover,  it  seems  to  be  the  especial  duty  of  the  scholars 
of  this  country  to  give  to  the  treatises  in  question  currency 
in  the  English  tongue.  The  few  individuals  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, who  have  the  ability  and  the  inclination  to  engage  in 
these  pursuits,  are  almost  wholly  withdrawn  to  the  vindica- 
tion of  their  political  and  ecclesiastical  rights.     Few  results. 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.         219 

comparatively,  can  be  expected  in  that  country,  till  the  civil 
storms  are  blown  over,  or  till  the  exclusive  regard  to  what 
is  immediately  practical  shall  give  place  to  juster  views. 

III.  The  importance  of  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language 
may  be  argued  from  its  effect  in  strengthening  the  faith  of 
the  student  in  the  genuineness  and  divine  authority  of  the 
Scriptures. 

The  Roman  Catholic  binds  up  certain  apocryphal  books 
with  the  Old  Testament.  But  it  should  seem  hardly  possi- 
ble for  a  reader  of  common  discernment  not  to  perceive  in- 
stantly, that  the  claims  of  these  books  to  inspiration  rest  on 
a  very  precarious  basis.  To  render  this  obvious,  they  need 
only  to  be  read  in  connection  with  the  canonical  books. 
These  latter  have  the  unstudied  guilelessness,  the  transpar- 
ency, the  uniform  dignity  of  divine  truth  ;  the  former  may 
have  traces  of  proceeding  from  honest  and  pious  minds,  but 
the  dignity  is  not  sustained  ;  the  simplicity  is  an  imitation  ; 
they  contain,  not  unfrequently,  jejune  repetitions  and  pueril- 
ities. Their  inferiority  is  rendered  more  striking  by  their 
position.  Tobit  would  be  a  respectable  story  if  it  were  not 
crowded  in  between  Malachi  and  Matthew.  But  placed 
where  it  is,  it  is  brought  into  most  unfortunate  proximity 
with  the  writings  whose  purity,  decorum,  and  consistency 
indicate  their  higher  origin.  Thus  our  confidence  in  the 
divinity  of  God's  word  is  materially  strengthened.  It  arises 
in  part  from  feeling.  We  cannot  describe  the  process. 
Before  we  are  aware,  the  perception  of  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two  classes  of  writing  has  become  a  part  of  our 
consciousness. 

But  if  such  is  the  effect  in  comparing  the  apocryphal 
books  with  our  excellent  English  version  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  contrast  is  much  heightened  by  examining  the 


220        STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE. 

former  in  connection  with  the  original  of  the  latter.  The 
Hebrew  has  the  signatures  of  a  simplicity  and  a  freshness, 
which  no  translation  can  fully  copy,  unless  it  be  itself  in- 
spired. It  is  the  freshness  of  Eden  on  the  seventh  morning 
of  the  creation  ;  it  is  the  simplicity  of  patriarchs  and  proph- 
ets ;  it  is  the  innocent  guilelessness  of  angels.  Our  trans- 
lation is  faithful  to  the  sense  of  the  original,  and  it  will  be 
an  everlasting  monument  of  the  powers  of  the  English  lan- 
guage, especially  in  its  Anglo-Saxon  features.  But  it  is  no 
dispai'agement  to  the  version  to  assert,  that  it  does  not  give 
us  all  the  vitality  and  beauty  of  the  original.  In  reading 
the  latter,  we  cannot  but  feel  that  we  have  passed  into  the 
holy  of  holies ;  the  proofs  of  divinity  are  thick  around  us. 
We  do  not  simply  know  that  our  faith  in  these  records  is 
firm,  -vf&feel  that  it  is. 

We  may  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion  in  another  way. 
The  translator  must,  in  many  cases,  select  one  word,  the 
best  which  he  can  find,  to  express  the  sense  of  the  origi- 
nal word.  He  cannot  employ  amplification,  paraphrase, 
circumlocution.  He  must  take  a  single  substantive,  or  a 
single  epithet ;  else  he  weakens,  or  obscures,  the  passage. 
He  very  properly  renders  the  verb  "13.1  ^Y  i^^  ^^^^  significa- 
tion, to  speak.  He  cannot  even  allude  to  the  other,  and 
more  primary  meanings, —  to  arrange^  to  guide.,  to  follow., 
and  to  lie  in  wait.  He  rightly  translates  the  noun  '^J'^'i  by 
path  or  road.,  without  even  hinting  that  it  has  also  the  mean- 
ing of  the  act  of  going,  journey.,  mode  of  living.,  conduct  to- 
tcards  God  and  man.,  religion.,  destiny  or  the  way  in  lohich 
it  goes  with  any  one.  Thus  with  many  other  terms  which 
might  be  mentioned.  The  sight  of  the  original  word  will 
suggest  to  the  reader,  not  simply  the  substantial  signification 
of  it  in  the  passage,  but  all  the  related  significations,  near  or 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.        221 

remote.  At  a  single  glance,  he  has  the  history  of  the  word, 
not  to  confuse  his  conceptions,  but  to  enlarge  them  and  ren- 
der them  more  vivid.  A  single  word  in  the  translation  ex- 
presses the  idea  of  the  original  substantially.  But  to  unfold 
the  sense  in  the  various  shades  of  it,  in  the  utmost  perfec- 
tion, the  etymology  of  the  word  is,  perhaps,  required,  for  the 
signification  is  partly  contained  in  some  other  ramification 
from  the  root.  Thus  there  will  be  a  vivid  apprehension  of 
the  passage.  The  characters  of  the  revelation  will  stand 
out  in  bolder  relief.  The  student  will  feel  that  he  is  no 
longer  dealing  with  shadows ;  what  he  especially  needs  he 
will  gain,  —  not  faith  in  its  lower  forms,  but  a  living  and 
enduring  impression  of  the  great  realities  which  are  couched 
beneath  the  terms  which  are  daily  coming  under  his  eye. 

He  will,  also,  attain  to  a  more  intelligent  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  some  particular  facts  or  doctrines.  We  may 
select,  for  instance,  that  of  the  original  unity  of  the  human 
race.  It  seems  now  to  be  fully  proved,  that  one  speech, 
substantially  so  called,  pervaded  a  considerable  portion  of 
Europe  and  Asia,  and  united  in  a  bond  of  union  nations 
professing  the  most  irreconcilable  religions,  with  the  most 
dissimilar  institutions,  and  bearing  but  a  slight  resemblance 
in  physiognomy  and  color.  This  language,  or  family  of 
languages,  is  the  Indo-Germanic,  or  Indo-European.  By 
further  researches,  it  appears  to  be  established,  that  this 
family  is  connected  with  the  Semitic,  of  which  the  Hebrew 
is  a  dialect,  not  by  a  few  verbal  coincidences,  but  linked 
together,  both  by  points  of  actual  contact,  and  by  the  inter- 
position of  the  Coptic,  grounded  on  the  essential  structure 
and  most  necessary  forms  of  the  three.*     In  the  common 

*  Dr.  Wiseman's  Lectures,  p.  66. 
19* 


222        STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE. 

Hebrew  Lexicon  now  used  in  this  Institution,  whole  famiUes 
of  biliteral  roots  are  illustrated  by  analogies  from  the  Indo- 
Germanic  tongues,  proving  that  the  Hebrew  in  its  primary 
elements  approaches  much  nearer  both  to  the  European 
and  the  Southern  Asiatic  languages,  than  has  been  gen- 
erally supposed.  Every  investigation  in  this  field,  and  it  is 
one  of  boundless  extent  and  but  just  opened,  increases  the 
credibility  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  creation  of  man,  and 
helps  to  confute  a  standing  cavil  of  infidelity,  arising  from 
the  existing  diversities  in  the  language,  color,  and  physical 
organization  of  our  race.  The  diligent  student  of  the  orig- 
inal Scriptures  will  be  constantly  meeting  with  unexpected 
and  interesting  discoveries,  which  will  afford  him  a  satisfac- 
tion akin  to  that  felt  on  the  solving  of  some  long-studied 
mathematical  problem. 

We  have  not  space  to  illustrate  the  local  evidence  fur- 
nished by  the  Hebrew  language,  in  the  successive  stages  of 
its  history,  for  the  honesty  of  the  sacred  historians.  When 
the  Israelites  were  in  Egypt,  Egyptian  words  were  incor- 
porated with  the  language.  There  was  a  strong  infusion  of 
Chaldeeisms,  when  the  people  were  in  Babylon.  Some  of 
the  later  books  contain  words  of  Persian  origin.  Thus  the 
language  is  a  standing  memorial  of  the  general  truth  of  the 
history. 

But  we  hasten  to  consider, — 

IV.  The  influence  of  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
on  the  imagination  and  the  taste. 

The  imagination  is  not  a  modification  of  memory,  or  of 
any  other  mental  faculty.  It  is  an  original  quality  of  the 
mind..  It  has  the  power  of  conferring  additional  properties 
upon  an  object,  or  of  abstracting  from  it  some  of  those 
which  it  actually  possesses,  and  of  thus  enabling  the  object 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.        223 

to  react,  like  a  new  substance,  upon  the  mind  which  has 
performed  the  process.  It  has  also  the  power  of  shaping 
and  of  creating  by  innumerable  methods.  It  consolidates 
numbers  into  unity  and  separates  unity  into  numbers.* 
"  It  draws  all  things  to  one,  —  makes  things  animate  and 
inanimate,  beings  with  their  attributes,  subjects  and  their 
accessories,  take  one  color,  and  serve  to  one  effect."  f  In 
its  highest  or  creative  power,  the  imagination  belongs  only 
to  the  few  great  poets.  But  the  faculty  is,  doubtless,  pos- 
sessed by  all  men,  though  in  some  cases  it  is  faintly,  or 
not  at  all,  developed.  Whoever  can  read  with  intelligence 
and  sympathy  a  genuine  poet,  has  imagination. 

"  The  grand  storehouses  of  enthusiastic  and  meditative 
imagination,  as  distinguished  from  human  and  dramatic 
imagination,"  remarks  a  great  living  writer,  "  are  the  pro- 
phetic and  lyrical  parts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the 
works  of  Milton,  to  which  I  cannot  forbear  to  add  those  of 
Spenser.  I  select  these  writers  in  preference  to  those  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  because  the  anthropomorphitism  of  the 
pagan  religion  subjected  the  minds  of  the  greatest  poets  in 
those  countries  too  much  to  the  bondage  of  form,  from  which 
the  Hebrews  were  preserved  by  their  abhorrence  of  idolatry. 
This  abhorrence  was  almost  as  strong  in  our  great  epic  poet, 
both  from  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  and  from  the  con- 
stitution of  his  mind.  However  imbued  the  surface  might 
be  with  classical  literature,  he  was  a  Hebrew  in  soul,  and 
all  things  in  him  tended  towards  the  sublime." 

The  poetry  of  the  Hebrews  is  sometimes  represented  as 

*  See  these  ideas  beautifully  expanded  and  illusti'ated  in  the  Pref- 
aces to  Wordsworth's  Poems,  Boston  edition,  1824. 

t  Charles  Lamb  on  the  Genius  and  Character  of  Hogarth,  Works, 
Vol.  II.  p.  391,  New  York  edition. 


224  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE. 

Oriental,  an  Eastern  fashion,  local,  factitious,  artificial, 
adapted  to  men  living  a  migratory  life,  under  an  ardent 
sky,  and  not  adapted  to  a  severe  European  taste.  But  the 
Hebrew  poetry  is  no  such  thing.  It  is  European;  it  is 
Occidental,  for  all  ages  and  generations  ;  it  is  universal  in 
its  character  ;  it  is  everlasting  as  the  affections  of  man.  It 
furnishes  food  for  that  imagination,  whose  birth  was  not  for 
time,  but  for  all  eternity.  Peasants  can  feel  its  force ;  phi- 
losophers kindle  at  its  inspiration.  Strip  the  Old  Testament 
of  its  poetry,  and  it  is  not  the  Old  Testament ;  it  contains 
truth,  but  not  the  truth  which  God  revealed.  Take  out  of 
it  the  element  of  imagination,  that  which  makes  it  poetry, 
and  the  residue  is  neither  poetry  nor  prose.  It  may  be 
truth,  but  it  is  not  the  truth  which  we  need.  No  error  can 
be  greater  than  to  call  the  Hebrew  poetry  mere  costume. 
There  are  some  truths  which  are  poetry  in  their  very  nature. 
Men,  the  world  over,  have  imagination,  and  love  poetic 
truths,  and  these  truths  were  necessary  for  them,  and  there- 
fore part  of  the  Bible  is  poetry. 

The  Arab  praises  the  Koran  because  it  contains  lofty, 
poetic  conceptions  of  the  Deity  ;  but  these  are  the  very 
things  which  Mohammed  stole  from  the  Jewish  Scriptures. 

It  has  been,  sometimes,  a  matter  of  wonder  how  the  poet 
Dante,  rising  up  when  the  human  mind  was  at  its  nadir, 
alone,  in  the  night  of  the  dark  ages,  in  Italy,  in  the  con- 
fluence, as  it  were,  of  the  two  streams  of  corruption  and 
death,  in  the  midst  of  petty  disputes,  raging  civil  discords, 
when  men  were  burnt  to  death  for  astrology, —  how  he 
could  pour  forth  numbers  so  sublime,  and  at  once  take  a 
position  higher  than  that  attained,  with  two  or  three  excep- 
tions, by  uninspired  poets.*     But  the  answer  is,  that  Dante 


North  American  Review,  Oct.  1833. 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.        225 

had  read  Moses's  description  of  Eden  and  of  the  fall.  His 
imagination  had  been  fed  with  the  visions  of  Ezekiel  and  of 
the  Apocalypse. 

The  highest,  the  grand  characteristic  of  Hebrew  poetry- 
is,  that  it  furnishes  the  germs  of  innumerable  thoughts, 
hints,  obscure  intimations,  recondite  allusions,  almost  hidden 
gleams  of  imagination,  out  of  which  a  great  poet  will  erect 
an  ode  or  an  epic.  Isaiah  had  said  that  "  Lucifer  sat  upon 
the  mount  of  the  congregation  on  the  sides  of  the  north." 
This  was  enough  for  Milton.  From  this  scarcely  intelli- 
gible hint,  the  poet  threw  up  a  palace  for  his  fallen  angel, 
thus  :  — 

"  At  length  into  the  limits  of  the  north 
They  came,  and  Satan  to  his  royal  seat, 
High  on  a  hill,  far  blazing,  as  a  mount 
Raised  on  a  mount,  with  pyramids  and  towers, 
From  diamond  quarries  hewn,  and  rocks  of  gold. 
The  palace  of  great  Lucifer,  so  call 
That  structure  in  the  dialect  of  men 
Interpreted ;  which  not  long  after  he, 
Affecting  all  equality  with  God, 
In  imitation  of  that  mount  whereon 
Messiah  was  declared  in  sight  of  Heaven, 
The  mountain  of  the  congregation  called,"  etc.  * 

It  is  these  almost  concealed  gleams  of  imagination,  where 
a  common  eye  would  see  nothing,  and  a  common  imag- 
ination would  remain  unaffected,  —  seeds  of  the  loftiest 
thoughts,  germs  of  the  highest  poetiy,  —  which  the  Bible 
contains  more  than  all  other  books,  that  has  fixed  the  eye, 
and  kindled  the  conceptions,  of  the  great  masters  of  the 
pencil.     How  many  sublime  paintings  have  been  suggested 

*  Mitford's  Life  of  Milton,  L  p.  73. 


226  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGTTAGE. 

by  the  Apocalypse,  itself  essentially  a  piece  of  Hebrew 
poetry ! 

Besides,  much  of  the  Hebrew  poetry  is  addressed  to  the 
imagination  in  its  most  poetic,  in  its  creative  sense.  It  sup- 
plies something  other  than  hints.  It  has  regular  and  sus- 
tained pieces  of  composition,  in  which'  imagination  is  the 
predominant  element,  just  as  it  is  in  the  first  two  books  of 
Paradise  Lost.  Such  are  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
chapters  of  Isaiah,  the  introductory  vision  of  Ezekiel,  and 
the  entire  book  of  Nahum.  The  capricious,  the  fanciful, 
the  temporary,  are  excluded.  The  metaphors  are  indefinite 
in  extent,  yet  true  to  nature.  They  are  not  to  be  judged 
by  the  rigor  of  logic  or  of  mathematics ;  but  they  have  a 
science  of  their  own,  from  whose  rules  they  never  deviate. 
The  reader  who  is  not  aware  of  this  prevailing  element  in 
these  compositions,  and  who  cannot  bring  some  portion  of 
the  same  element  to  their  illustration,  will  not  see  all  their 
beauty,  nor  feel  all  their  force. 

Unafl^ected  pathos  is  another  characteristic  of  Hebrew 
poetry. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that,  among  the  almost  innumerable 
commentaries  which  Germany  has  poured  forth  on  the  va- 
rious books  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  writings  of  Jeremiah 
have  been  generally  passed  by.  We  hardly  know  of  a 
good  critical  commentary  on  it  in  any  language.  Isaiah 
receives  all  the  commendation,  sometimes  at  the  expense 
of  great  literary  injustice  to  Jeremiah.*  But  for  true,  po- 
etic sensibility,  Jeremiah  is  unsurpassed.  A  tender  and 
plaintive  melancholy,  untinged  by  the  least  bitterness  or 
misanthropy,  is  diffused  through  his  writings.     In  the  midst 

*  See  Gescnius's  Commentary  on  Isaiah,  in  many  places. 


STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE.  227 

of  an  earnest  remonstrance,  or  an  historical  narrative,  we 
unexpectedly  meet  with  a  stroke  of  pathos,  which,  it  would 
seem,  he  could  not  restrain  till  he  had  completed  the  com- 
position. Coming  upon  us  as  it  does,  while  we  are  listen- 
ing to  the  recital  of  the  idolatries  and  horrible  cruelties  of 
his  ungrateful  countrymen,  it  is  like  the  tones  of  a  human 
voice  to  a  solitary  traveller  on  a  sandy  and  savage  desert. 
The  Lamentations  are  an  exhibition  of  patriotism,  confi- 
dence in  God,  artless  and  overwhelming  grief,  bold  apos- 
trophe, delicate  personal  allusions,  and  generous  enthusi- 
asm, which  has  no  parallel.  It  is  not  Brutus  at  Philippi, 
nor  Marius  on  the  ruins  of  Carthage  ;  but  it  is  a  venerable 
prophet  of  the  Lord  treading  on  the  ashes  of  the  holy  city 
and  on  the  bones  of  the  daughters  of  Zion. 

In  offering  these  remarks  on  the  universal  and  imperish- 
able character  of  Hebrew  poetry,  we  do  not  intend  to  deny, 
that  there  are  Orientalisms,  an  Eastern  costume,  modes  of 
speaking  and  figures  of  speech  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
East.  The  images  of  the  Orientals  are  bolder  and  more 
fiery  than  ours.  We  are  accustomed  to  compare  man  to 
the  various  objects  of  nature  ;  they  liken  external  objects  to 
man,  and  make  all  nature  instinct  with  life.  With  them 
science  is  the  mother  of  virtue  ;  precipitation  is  the  mother 
of  repentance  ;  the  soldier  is  the  son  of  war  ;  the  traveller  is 
the  son  of  the  road  ;  words  are  the  daughters  of  the  lips  ; 
and  prudence  is  the  daughter  of  reflection.  Every  thing, 
even  down  to  a  letter  of  introduction,  or  to  the  firman  of 
the  Sultan,  must  be  in  a  poetic  form. 

In  the  consideration  of  these  subordinate  matters,  the 
Western  student  must  exercise  his  taste,  or  that  acquired 
power  which  judges  of  the  fitness  or  congruity  of  objects. 
As  a  reader  or  interpreter  of  the  Old  Testament  original,  he 


228  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW   LANGUAGE. 

will  have  full  scope  for  the  exercise  both  of  his  imagination 
and  his  taste.  No  ampler  or  richer  field  for  their  develop- 
ment or  cultivation  could  be  desired. 

Such  cultivation  and  development,  moreover,  are  needed 
by  the  youthful  Evangelical  clergymen  of  our  country.     In 
their  anxiety  to  become  sound  theologians,  or  skilful  logi- 
cians, or  in  the  pressure  of  practical  duties,  they  have  too 
much  neglected  the  province  of  imagination  and  taste.     In 
this  respect  the  two  denominations  more  particularly  con- 
nected with  this  Institution  are,  unquestionably,  inferior  to 
some  other  denominations  of  Chi-istians.     Consequently,  in 
not  a  few  excellent  men,  there   has   been  an  inability  to 
appreciate  and  employ  all  the  treasures  which  are  accumu- 
lated in  God's  word.     They  have  not  availed  themselves 
of  that  cultivation  of  the  taste  and  of  the  imagination,  which 
may  be  acquired  by  faithfully  studying  such  compositions 
as  those  of  David  and  of  Isaiah.     There  exists,  in  our  com- 
munity, a  class  of  highly  disciplined  minds  that  Evangelical 
clergymen  have  not  in  general  been  able  to  reach.     Intel- 
lect has  not  been  wanting,  nor  theology,  nor  piety  ;  but  there 
has  been  a  deficiency  in  those  graces  of  style,  and  in  that 
highly  cultivated  taste,  which  are  required  to  meet  the  ex- 
igencies of  the  higher  circles  in  society.     No  man  of  sense 
would  argue  for  what  are  sometimes  called  tasteful  or  imag- 
inative preachers.     Yet,  as  the  powers  of  imagination  are 
one   of  the   noblest  gifts  of  God,  as   their  exercise  is  en- 
tirely consistent  with  a  sober  judgment  and  with  sound  com- 
mon sense,  and  as  a  leading  class  in  the  community  will 
not  be  affected  by  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  unless  they  are 
presented  in  acceptable  words  and  enforced  in  good  taste, 
we  are  certainly  under  the  highest  ^obligations  to  develop 
these  powers  of  imagination  and  of  taste,  and  employ  them 
fully  in  the  service  of  our  Lord. 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.        229 

V.  Another  important  consideration  is  the  bearing  of  the 
study  of  Hebrew  upon  the  missionary  enterprise. 

The  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  ordained  missionaries 
sent  out  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions,  sixty-nine  of  whom  were  educated  at  this 
Institution,  have  pubUshcd,  with  the  aid  of  their  assistants, 
between  fifty  and  sixty  millions  of  pages,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  which  are  parts  of  the  Scriptures.  The  number  of 
languages  employed  is  twenty-nine,  nine  of  which  were  first 
reduced  to  writing  by  these  missionaries.  In  all  this  wide 
department  of  labor,  augmenting  every  year,  an  accurate 
acquaintance  with  the  original  Hebrew  is  of  course  indis- 
pensable. The  missionary  translator  is  not  to  repair  to 
the  Vulgate,  nor  to  the  Septuagint,  but  to  the  fountain- 
head. 

In  the  labors  which  are  to  be  entered  into  for  the  con- 
version of  the  five  or  six  millions  of  Jews,  scattered  over  the 
world,  the  necessity  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  is  too  obvious  to 
need  the  briefest  allusion.  In  respect  to  familiarity  with  its 
pages,  the  missionary  himself  must  become  a  Jew. 

The  bearings  of  the  subject  upon  those  who  speak  the 
Arabic  tongue  may  justify  a  moment's  consideration.  The 
great  problem  for  the  friends  of  civilization  and  Christian- 
ity to  solve,  is  the  conversion  of  the  millions  who  use  the 
Chinese  and  the  Arabic  languages.  These  enlightened 
and  saved,  the  world,  comparatively,  is  evangelized.  Henry 
Martyn,  in  speaking  of  the  Arabic  translation  of  the  Bible, 
says  :  "  It  will  be  of  more  importance  than  one  fourth  of  all 
that  have  ever  been  made.  We  can  begin  to  preach  to 
Arabia,  Syria,  Persia,  Tartary,  part  of  India  and  China, 
half  of  Africa,  and  nearly  all  the  sea-coasts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, including  Turkey."     According  to  the  tables  in  the 

VOL.  II.  20 


230  STUDY    OF    THE    HEBREW    LANGUAGE. 

Modern  Atlas,  this  would  give  upwards  of  two  hundred  mil- 
lions, who  would  be  reached  through  the  Arabic  tongue. 
This  calculation  may,  perhaps,  appear  extravagant ;  yet,  if 
we  look  at  the  extent  of  the  language,  with  all  its  difTerent 
dialects,  the  number  who  use  it  will  fall  not  far  short  of  one 
fourth  of  the  population  of  the  globe.*  Any  thing,  there- 
fore, which  will  materially  aid  us  in  the  acquisition  of  the 
Arabic  has  a  value  which  words  cannot  express. 

What,  then,  are  the  relations  between  the  Hebrew  and 
the  Arabic  ?  Most  intimate  and  fundamental.  The  Arabs 
have  a  common  ancestry  with  the  Jews,  partly  from  Abra- 
ham through  Ishmael,  and  partly  from  Heber  through  his 
son  Joktan.  Some  of  the  Arab  tribes  most  clearly  spoke 
the  same  language  with  the  Israelites,  while  Moses  was 
leading  the  latter  through  the  wilderness.  At  what  time 
there  was  a  divergence,  we  are  not  informed.     But  in  nu- 

*  The  icritten  Arabic,  or  that  in  which  the  Koran  is  composed,  was 
the  language  of  the  people  inhabiting  the  vast  empire  founded  by  the 
successors  of  Mohammed.  It  is  now  the  religious  and  literary  language 
of  the  numerous  nations  that  profess  Islamism,  extending  from  the 
island  of  Goree  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  eastern  extremity  of  Af- 
rica, and  from  Madagascar  to  the  rivers  Oby  and  Volga  in  the  North  of 
Asia  and  Europe.  The  vidyar  Arabic  is  spoken  in  a  great  part  of 
Syria,  in  Mesopotamia,  in  Khusistan  and  Fars  along  the  Persian  Gulf, 
on  the  Coromandel  and  Malabar  coasts  in  India,  in  all  Egypt,  in  Nu- 
bia, along  the  wliole  course  of  the  Nile  from  Egypt  to  Sennaar,  by  the 
Arabs  and  Moors  in  all  the  towns  of  the  Barbary  States,  and  by  the 
wandering  Bedouins,  in  a  part  of  Biledulgerid,  in  Fezzan,  in  Sahara, 
in  part  of  the  kingdoms  of  Kordofan,  Darfour,  and  of  Bornou  Proper, 
in  different  states  on  the  coast  of  Zanguebar,  in  Socotra,  in  a  great 
part  of  Madagascar,  in  Malta,  and  in  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Indian 
archipelago.  There  are  various  dialects  of  the  vulgar  Arabic,  but  they 
do  not  differ  greatly  from  one  another.  See  Balbi's  Atlas  Ethno- 
graphiqite  dn  Globe.,  Paris,  1826. 


STTJDY    OF    THE    HEBREW   LANGUAGE.  231 

merous  and  in  important  points,  the  two  languages  yet 
remain  identical. 

The  affinity  of  languages  is  sought  by  one  class  of  phi- 
lologists in  their  words  ;  in  their  grammar,  by  another  class. 
According  to  the  former,  words  are  the  matter  of  language, 
and  grammar  its  form  or  fashioning  ;  according  to  the  latter, 
grammar  is  an  essential,  inborn  element  of  a  language,  so 
that  a  new  grammar  cannot  be  separately  imposed  upon 
a  people.  But  whichever  of  these  methods  is  adopted,  in 
order  to  determine  the  affinity  of  two  languages,  the  result 
in  the  case  before  us  is  the  same.  The  Hebrew  and  Ara- 
bic are  kindred  both  in  words  and  in  grammar,  both  lexi- 
cally and  grammatically.  In  an  Arabic  translation  of  the 
Pentateuch,  about  one  half  of  the  words  are  Hebrew,  with 
the  same  radical  letters.  One  writer  enumerates  more  than 
three  hundred  names  of  the  most  common  objects  in  nature 
which  are  the  same  in  both,  without  by  any  means  exhaust- 
ing the  list.  The  roots  in  both  languages  are  generally  dis- 
syllabic, lying  in  the  verb  rather  than  in  the  noun.  The 
two  languages  abound  in  guttural  sounds.  The  oblique 
cases  of  pronouns  are  appended  to  the  verb,  the  noun,  and 
to  particles.  The  verb  has  but  two  tenses.  The  gender  is 
only  twofold.  The  cases  are  designated  by  means  of  prep- 
ositions. The  genitive  is  expressed  by  a  change  in  the  first 
noun,  not  in  the  second.  The  noun  and  the  verb  do  not 
admit  of  being  compounded.  There  is  a  certain  simplicity 
in  the  syntax,  and  the  diction  is,  in  the  highest  degree,  un- 
periodic.  In  the  Hebrew  Lexicon  which  we  here  daily  use, 
almost  every  Hebrew  root  has  a  corresponding  Arabic  one, 
with  the  same  radicals,  and  generally  with  the  same  signi- 
fication. 

In  promoting,  therefore,  the  study   of  Hebrew  in  this 


232        STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE. 

country,  we  are  taking  a  most  direct  means  to  spread  the 
glorious  Gospel  of  Christ,  not  only  where  the  Ai'abic  is  the 
dominant  language,  but  wherever  Islamism  has  penetrated  ; 
that  is,  from  Calcutta  to  Constantinople,  and  from  the  Cas- 
pian Sea  to  our  American  colony  in  Liberia.  A  thorough 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  will  remove  at  least  one  half  the  dif- 
ficulty of  acquiring  the  Arabic.  It  will  introduce  us  to  the 
same  modes  of  writing  and  of  thought,  to  the  same  poetic 
diction,  and  in  part  to  the  same  material  objects,  the  same 
countries,  and  the  same  historical  associations.  In  this 
sense,  the  Hebrew  is  not  a  dead  language.  By  its  most 
intimate  connection  whh  the  Arabic,  and,  I  may  add,  with 
the  Syriac,  it  is  still  spoken  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Ararat,  on 
the  site  of  old  Nineveh,  at  Carthage,  in  the  ancient  Berytus, 
and  where  Paul  was  shipwrecked.  It  is  reviving  in  Egypt, 
and  the  Bible  and  the  Tract  Societies  are  spreading  its  liter- 
ature on  the  wings  of  every  wind. 

There  are  two  other  points  upon  which,  did  the  time  ad- 
mit, some  remarks  might  be  offered,  namely,  the  light  which 
a  critical  examination  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  might  be 
expected  to  throw  on  the  systems  of  Christian  theology  ;  and 
on  the  present  increasing  tendency  in  some  portions  of  the 
Church  to  undervalue  the  Old  Testament,  and  to  degrade  it 
from  any  connection  with  the  New,  thus  in  effect  subvert- 
ing the  authority  of  both.     But  I  forbear. 

It  is  with  unfeigned  diffidence,  and  not  without  fear  and 
trembling,  that  I  enter  upon  the  duties  before  me.  My  as- 
sociations in  this  place  are  those  of  a  learner  in  the  pres- 
ence of  venerated  teachers,  both  among  the  living  and  the 
dead.     The  course  of  study  is,  indeed,  delightful,  and  fond 


STUDY  OF  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE.        233 

and  ardent  hopes  might  be  indulged  by  one  just  entering 
upon  it ;  yet  the  experience  of  almost  every  day  warns  us 
that  the  fairest  earthly  hopes  bloom  only  for  the  grave.  The 
work,  too,  is  one  where  presumption  and  ignorance  have 
no  place,  —  interpreting  the  thoughts  of  Heaven,  —  endeav- 
oring to  explain  the  mind  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Yet  that 
Spirit,  humbly  sought,  giveth  power  to  the  faint,  and  to  them 
that  have  no  might  increaseth  strength. 


20 


EARLY  ENGLISH  VERSIONS  OF  THE  BIBLE/ 


Of  the  early  history  of  the  Christian  Church  in  Britain, 
our  information  is  very  imperfect.  In  whatever  manner 
Christianity  was  introduced  into  the  island,  whether  by 
Paul  or  by  some  other  missionary,  it  is  altogether  probable 
that  the  sacred  writings  were  soon  communicated  to  the 
new  converts.  Eusebius  affirms,  that  both  Greeks  and  bar- 
barians had  the  writings  concerning  Jesus  in  their  own 
country  characters  and  language. t  In  an  extraordinary 
consistory,  held  at  Rome,  A.  D.  679,  respecting  British 
affairs,  it  was,  among  other  things,  ordained,  that  lessons  out 
of  the  divine  oracles  should  be  always  read  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  churches.  About  the  middle  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, in  563  or  565,  Columba  founded  the  monastery  on  the 
island  of  Y-Kolmkill,  best  known  under  the  name  of  lona. 
In  regard  to  the  occupants  of  that  celebrated  seat  of  learn- 

*  This  Essay  was  published  in  the  Biblical  Repository,  October, 
1835.  Some  alterations  made  in  it  by  the  author  himself  appear  in 
this  edition.  He  had  intended  to  make  other  changes  in  it  before  its  re- 
publication. 

t  "Jam  ante  ortas  eorum  qui  hodie  protestantes  appellantur  novitates, 
apud  omnes  fere  Christiani  nominis  gentes  Scripturae  versiones  exti- 
tisse  lingua  vernacula  multas  probare  non  esset  arduum."  —  /'.  Simon, 
Disq.  Crit.  de  variis  Bibl.  Edit. 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  235 

ing,  the  venerable  Bede  says  :  "  Tantum  ea  quae  in  pro- 
pheticis,  evangelicis,  et  apostolicis  Uteris  discere  poterant 
pietatis  et  castitatis  opera  diligenter  observantes."  *  Re- 
specting one  of  the  bishops,  Andan,  he  remarks :  "  In  tan- 
tum autem  vita  illius  a  nostri  temporis  segitia  distabat ;  ut 
omnes  qui  cum  eo  incedebant,  sive  adtonsi,  sive  laici,  me- 
ditari  deberent,  id  est,  aut  legendis  Scripturis,  aut  Psalmis 
discendis  operam  dare.  Hoc  erat  quotidianum  opus  illius, 
et  omnium,  qui  cum  eo  erant  fratrum  ubicunque  locorum 
devenissent."  t  In  the  sermon  of  Chrysostom  concerning 
the  utility  of  reading  the  Scriptures,  we  find  the  following  : 
"  Though  thou  visitest  the  ocean  and  these  British  islands, 
though  thou  sailest  to  the  Euxine  Sea,  and  travellest  to  the 
southern  regions,  thou  shalt  hear  all  men,  everywhere, 
reasoning  out  of  the  Scripture,  with  another  voice  indeed, 
but  not  with  another  faith  ;  with  a  different  tongue,  but  with 
an  according  mind."  |  Bede  says  further  respecting  Brit- 
ain in  his  own  time,  that  "  in  the  language  of  five  nations, 
it  searched  out  and  acknowledged  one  and  the  same  ac- 
quaintance with  the  highest  truth,  and  with  real  sublimity  ; 
to  wit,  of  the  English,  the  Britons,  the  Scots,  the  Picts,  and 
the  Latins."  The  evidence,  if  not  decisive,  is  at  least 
strong,  in  favor  of  the  existence  of  British  translations  of 
the    Bible,  or  parts  of  the  Bible.     Instances  are  given  in 

*  Bede,  Tom.  III.  Basle  ed.  1563,  Lib.  III.  Hist.  Eccles.  Ch.  IV. 
p.  74. 

t  Id.  Ch.  V.  p.  75. 

\  Kav  els  tov  wKeavov  aniXdrjs,  kuv  wpos  ras  BperavviKcis  vrjaovs 
eKeivas  •  kuv  els  tov  Ev^Lfov  nXevcnjs  ttovtov,  kqv  wpos  to.  voria 
arreXdi^s  p-epr)  *  Travrcov  dKouwjj  Tzavra-^ov  tu  0.776  r^r  ypacprjs  (f>iko- 
cro(f)ovvTa)v ,  (pcovfj  pev  erepa  Koi  yXwacrrj  pev  dia  (jiopa,  tiavoia  8e 
(rvp<pa)vui. 


236  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

Bede  of  children  and  youth  who  had  a  familiar  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures. 

About  the  year  449,  the  Saxons  were  invited  into  Eng- 
land. They  gradually  increased  in  power,  and  founded 
one  kingdom  after  another,  till  the  full  establishment  of  the 
octarchy,  about  586.  The  Britons,  for  the  most  part,  took 
refuge  in  Wales,  Coi'nwall,  Bretagne,  France,  and  other 
countries.  The  Saxon  conquest  was  so  complete,  that  they 
spread  their  own  language  exclusively  in  the  parts  which 
they  occupied.  On  every  district  or  place  where  they 
came,  they  imposed  their  own  names,  generally  denoting 
the  nature,  situation,  or  some  striking  feature  of  the  places 
to  which  they  were  given.  A  succession  of  Saxon  kings 
reigned  in  the  island  for  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  till 
about  the  year  1016  ;  when  Canute,  a  Dane,  ascended  the 
English  throne.  In  a  little  more  than  twenty  years  the 
Saxon  line  was  restored,  and  continued  till  the  Norman 
Conquest  in  1066.*  The  Anglo-Saxons  removed  to  Eng- 
land from  the  southern  parts  of  Schleswig,  and  neighboring 
parts  of  Germany.  They  consisted  of  three  distinct  Gothic 
races,  —  Saxons,  Angles,  and  Jutes.  Whether  the  Angles 
or  the  Saxons  were  the  more  numerous,  is  not  known  with 
certainty ;  but  the  Angles  finally  conquered  a  large  portion 
of  the  country,  and  gave  their  name  to  the  whole  nation. 
The  Jutes  were  the  fewest  in  number.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
tongue  appears  to  have  been  in  its  origin  a  rude  mixture  of 
the  dialects  of  the  Saxons,  the  Angles,  and  the  Jutes  ;  but 
we  are  not  acquainted  with  it  in  that  state,  these  dialects 
having  soon  coalesced  into  one  language,  as  the  various 
kindred  tribes  soon  united  to  form  one  nation,  after  they 

**  Turner's  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  Vol.  III.  p.  1. 


EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  237 

had  taken  possession  of  England.  With  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  and  the  Roman  alphabet,  their  literature  be- 
gan. Even  under  the  Danish  kings,  all  laws  and  edicts 
were  promulgated  in  pure  Anglo-Saxon.  King  Ethelbert 
adopted  Christianity  about  593  or  596,  and  his  laws,  which 
we  may  refer  to  about  the  year  600,  are,  perhaps,  the  old- 
est extant  in  Anglo-Saxon.* 

Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Archbishop  Parker,f  gives  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  some  Saxon  manuscripts  and  versions  of 
parts   of  the   Bible.      In    the   library  of  the   University  of 
Cambridge  is  Jerome's  Latin  Psalter  in  vellum,  with  the 
Saxon  interlinear  version. J     The  Latin  is  in  black  letter 
the  Saxon  in  red,  and  the  titles  in  green.     There  are,  be 
sides,  sacred  hymns,  as  those  of  Isaiah,  Anna,  and  Moses 
the  Three  Children,  the  Magnificat,  etc.,  in  Latin  and  Saxon 
Another  book  in  vellum,  written  about  the  time  of  the  Con 
quest,  contains  the   four  Gospels  in  Saxon,  with  rubrics.    A 
third  volume  in  vellum,  also  in  the  Cambridge  library,  in 
large  octavo,  contains  a  collection  of  Saxon  homilies.     In 
the   library   of  Trinity   College  is  another  book  of  Saxon 
homilies  in  parchment,  written  a  little  before  the  Conquest. 
Archbishop  Parker,  in  his  Preface  to  a  new  translation  of 
the  Bible,  says :  "  Our  old   forefathers,  who   ruled  in  this 
realm  in  their  times,  and  in  diverse  ages,  did  their  diligence 
to  translate  M'hole  books  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  erudition 
of  the  laity ;  as  yet  to  this  day  are  to  be  seen  divers  books 
translated    into   the    vulgar  tongue,  some  by  kings  of  the 

*  Rask's  Anglo-Saxon  Grammar,  Preface,  p.  47. 

t  Ed.  of  1611,  fol.,  p.532. 

t  According  to  Baber,  this  Psalter  has  well-grounded  pretensions  of 
being  one  of  the  books  which  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  sent  to  Augus- 
tin,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  England. 


238  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

realm,  some  by  bishops,  some  by  abbots,  some  by  other  de- 
vout godly  fathers.  So  desirous  were  they  of  old  time  to 
have  the  lay-sort  edified  in  godliness,  by  reading  in  their 
vulgar  tongue,  that  very  many  books  be  yet  extant,  though 
for  the  age  of  the  speech,  and  strangeness  of  the  character 
of  many  of  them,  almost  worn  out  of  knowledge.  In  which 
books  may  be  seen,  evidently,  how  it  was  used  among  the 
Saxons,  to  have  in  their  churches  read  the  four  Gospels,  so 
distributed  and  picked  out  in  the  body  of  the  Evange- 
lists' books,  that  to  every  Sunday  and  festival-day  in  the 
year,  they  were  sorted  out  to  the  common  ministers  of 
the  Church  in  their  common  prayers,  to  be  read  to  their 
people." 

We  are  informed  by  Baber,  that  some  of  the  most  re- 
markable portions  of  sacred  history  appeared  in  the  sev- 
enth century,  in  a  paraphrastic,  poetical  version,  made  by 
Caedmon,  a  monk,  whose  piety  led  him  to  cultivate  relig- 
ious poetry.  This  earliest  specimen  of  Saxon  poetry  was 
published  by  Junius,  at  Amsterdam,  in  1665.  It  abounds 
with  periphrasis  and  metaphor.  Literal  translations  of  the 
sacred  songs  of  the  Bible,  and  of  the  lessons  which  the 
Church  had  selected  for  the  daily  service,  were  put  forth 
in  the  eighth  century.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, Guthlac,  the  first  Saxon  anchoret,  is  reputed  to  have 
produced  an  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  Psalter. 

Adelm,  or  Aldhelm,  the  first  Bishop  of  Sherburne,  trans- 
lated the  Psalter  into  Saxon,  about  the  year  706.  In  his 
book  De  Virginitate,  he  praises  the  nuns  to  whom  he  wrote, 
for  their  great  industry  and  towardliness  in  the  daily  read- 
ing of  the  Scriptures.  Bede  says  that  Aidan,  a  Scotch  bish- 
op, who  diffused  Christianity  in  Northumberland  in  the 
reign  of  Oswald,  took  care  that  all  those  who  travelled  with 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  239 

him,  whether  clergy  or  laity,  should  spend  a  considerable 
part  of  their  time  in  reading  the  Scriptures.  Usher,  in  his 
Historia  Dogmatica,  Ch.  V.,  says  that  Egbert  (otherwise 
called  Elfrid,  Eadfrid,  and  Eckfrid),  Bishop  of  Landisferne, 
made  a  Saxon  translation  of  the  four  Evangelists,  without 
distinction  of  chapters.*     A  k\v  years  after,  the  venerable 

*  Appendix  to  Strype,  p.  132.     "Watson's  Tracts,  Vol.  III.  p.  62. — 
Baber  says  that  Eadfrid  did  not  translate  any  portions  of  the  Bible.    In 
honor  of  St.  Cuthbert  he,  about  A.  D.  680,  with  great  care  and  labor, 
transcribed  the  Gospels,  in  the  Latin  tongue,  following  the  version  of 
Jerome.     An  interlinear  Saxon  version  was  afterwards  added  by  Al- 
dred,  a  priest.    Saxon  scholars  differ  materially  in  their  opinions  of  the 
age  in  which  this  Anglo-Saxon  version  was  written.      Mr.  Henshall, 
who  published  Aldred's  translation  of  Matthew,  pronounces  it  to  be  a 
production  of  the  eighth  century.     Mr.  Ingram,  late  Saxon  Professor 
at  Oxford,  supposes  that  it  was  made  three  hundred  and  sixty  years  af- 
ter the  Latin  version  which  it  accompanies.    Humphrey  Wanley,  a  sober 
critic,   attributes  it  to  the  time    of  Alfred.      The   Durham  Book,  the 
name  of  this  most  venerable  relic  of  antiquity,  is  in  the  British  Museum, 
and  is  the  finest  specimen  of  Saxon  calligraphy  and  decoration  extant. 
In  the  Library  of  Bennet  College,  Cambridge,  is  a  manuscript  containing 
another  Saxon  version  of  the  Gospels.     Its  author  is  unknown.      It 
was  written  a  little  before  the  Conquest,  and  appears  to  be  a  transcrijit 
of  an  older  manuscript.   In  the  Bodleian  Library  is  a  manuscript  of  the 
same  version,  which  bears  evidence  of  having  been  written,  at  various 
times,  by  different  persons.     Matthew  seems  not   to   have    been  com- 
pleted by  one  translator  alone.      Of  the  two  last-named  versions,  one 
seems  to  have  been  a  transcript  of  the  other.     The  Bodleian  manu- 
script belonged  formerly  to  Archbishop  Parker,  under  whose  direction  it 
was  published,  in  1571,  by  Fox,  the  martyrologist.     The  Gospels  were 
printed  in  Saxon  types,  and  are  accompanied  with  an  English  version, 
taken  out  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  and  here  and  there  altered  to  be  ac- 
commodated to  the  Saxon.      Being  found   to   be  inaccurately  trans- 
cribed, and  incorrectly  printed,  they  were  afterwards  revised  by  Junius, 
in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Marshall,  and  were  published  together  with  the 
jM.'cso-Gothic  fragments  ascribed  to  Ulphilas.     For  this  purpose,  Ju- 


240  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE, 

Bede  translated  a  part  (perhaps  only  John's  Gospel)  of  the 
Bible  into  Saxon.  Asser  relates  that  the  last  sentence  of 
John  was  finished  when  he  was  expiring.  Nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  after  Bede,  King  Alfred  executed  almost  an  en- 
tire translation  of  the  Psalms,  either  to  supply  the  loss  of 
Adhelm's  (which  is  supposed  to  have  perished  in  the  Danish 
wars),  or  to  improve  the  plainness  of  Bede's  version.  A 
Saxon  translation  of  the  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Judges,  part 
of  the  books  of  Kings,  Esther,  Job,  and  the  apocryphal 
books  of  Judith  and  the  Maccabees,  is  also  attributed  to 
Elfric  or  Elfred,  who  was  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  A.  D. 
995.  This  work  of  Elfric  is  by  no  means  a  complete  ver- 
sion of  the  above-mentioned  books.  There  are  accurate 
verbal  translations ;  but  for  the  most  part  he  has  stated  only 
in  substance  the  precepts  and  the  histories  of  the  inspired 
penmen. 

We  now  quote  a  few  verses  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  Tes- 
tament printed  at  Dort,  in  1665,  opera  Fr.  Junii  et  Th. 
Mareschalii. 

Luke   XV.   ll-19.t      "He  cwaeS   soSlice :    Sum    man 

nius  collected  six  manuscripts,  the  Oxford,  the  Cambridge,  the  Bennet, 
the  Hatton,  the  Durham  Book,  and  the  Rushworth  Gloss.  Marshall 
has  enriched  the  volume  with  many  observations  upon  this  version,  and 
has  particularly  noticed  those  passages,  which,  at  variance  with  the 
reading  of  the  Vulgate,  as  its  text  now  stands,  agree  with  the  Codex 
Bezre.  Hence  it  is  a  fair  conclusion,  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  was  trans- 
lated from  the  Vetus  Italica,  or  old  Latin  version,  as  it  stood  before  it 
was  corrected  by  Jerome. 

1  "As  some  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  characters  deviate  a  little  in  their 
form  from  flie  Latin,  of  which  both  they  and  the  Gothic  are  a  cor- 
ruption, or,  as  it  were,  a  peculiar  sort  of  hand,  which  is  also  used  by 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  even  in  the  writing  of  Latin  itself;  I  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  adopt  in  their  stead  those  now  in  general  use,  with  two  excep- 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  241 

haoefde  twegen  suna ;  J>a  cwaeS  se  gyngra  to  hys  faeder : 
Faeder  !  syle  me  minne  dael  ]?inre  aehte,  pe  me  to-gebyreS  ; 
J>a  daelde  he  him  his  aehte.  Sa  aefter  feawa  dagum  ealle 
his  J»ing  gegadrude  se  gingra  sunu,  and  ferde  wraedice  on 
feorlen  rice,  and  forspilde  par  his  aehta,  byblende  on  his 
gaelsan.  J>a  he  hig  haefde  ealle  amyrrede,  }>a  wearS  mycel 
hunger  on  pam  rice,  and  he  wearS  waedla ;  J>a  ferde  he 
and  folgude  anum  buhr-sittendum  men  J)aes  rices ;  J>a  sende 
he  hyne  to  hys  tune,  ])aet  heolde  his  swyn.  fa  gewilnode 
he  his  wamba  gefyllan  of  J)am  bean-coddum,  pe  Sa  swyn  ae- 
ton,  and  him  man  ne  sealde  ;  J»a  beSote  he  hyne  and  cwaeS. 
Eala  hii  fela  h^rlinga  on  mines  faeder  hiise  hlaf  genohne 
habbaS,  and  ic  her  on  hungre  forwurSe,  ic  arise  and  ic  fare 
to  minum  faeder,  and  ic  secge  hym  ;  eala  faeder !  ic  syn- 
gode  on  heofonas  and  beforan  pe,  nu  ic  neom  wyrSe,  pact 
ic  beo  ]nn  sunu  genemned,  do  me  swa  anne  of  pinum 
hyrlingum." 

In  the  year  1066,  William  of  Normandy  conquered  Eng- 
land, but  the  highly  cultivated,  deep-rooted,  ancient,  na- 
tional tongue  could  not  be  immediately  extirpated,  though 
it  was  instantly  banished  from  the  court.  M-'illiam's  laws 
even  were  issued  in  French.  A  fragment  of  the  Saxon 
Chronicle,  published  by  Lye,  concluding  with  the  year 
1079,  is  still  in  pretty  correct  Anglo-Saxon  ;  but  in  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  same  Chronicle,  from  1135  to  1140,  almost 
all  the  inflections  of  the  language  are  either  changed  or 
neglected,  as  well  as  the  orthography,  and  most  of  the  old 
phrases  and  idioms.     We  may,  therefore,  fix  the  year  1100 

lions."  —  Rask.  These  exceptions  both  answer  to  the  English  th,  which 
has  first  a  hard  sound,  as  in  thing,  nearly  resembling  the  &  of  the  Greeks, 
and,  secondly,  a  softer  sound,  as  in  this,  thou,  other,  like  the  modern 
Greek  d. 

VOL.    II.  21 


242  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

as  the  limit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue.  The  confusion 
which  prevailed  after  1100  belongs  to  the  Old  English 
period* 

The  Saxon  tongue  was  at  length  so  altered  and  corrupted, 
as  to  become  nearly  useless.  The  Bible  being  now  in  Lat- 
in only,  and  not  very  common  in  that  language,  the  opinion 
began  to  gain  ground,  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
was  unnecessary,  or  rather  that  it  was  not  lawful  for  private 
Christians  to  read  them  in  their  vernacular  tongue.  Wil- 
liam Butler,  a  Franciscan  friar,  maintained  that  "  the  prel- 
ates ought  not  to  admit  of  this,  that  every  one  should  read 
at  his  pleasure  the  Scriptures  translated  into  Latin."  T-he 
priests  knew  nothing  of  the  Scriptures  but  what  they  found 
in  their  missals  and  other  forms  of  their  worship.  John 
Beleth,  an  eminent  divine  of  Paris,  observed  that  "  the 
laudable  custom  had  prevailed  in  some  churches  of  explain- 
ing the  Gospel  to  the  people  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  immedi- 
ately after  it  had  been  pronounced  in  Latin.  But  what 
shall  we  say  of  our  times,  when  there  is  scarce  any  one  to 
be  found  who  understands  what  he  reads  or  hears?" 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth,  several  attempts  were  made  to 
translate  into  the  English  then  spoken,  the  Psalter,  the 
hymns  of  the  Church,  and  parts  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  earliest  of  these  monuments,  after  the  Saxon  times, 
is  a  paraphrase  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
entitled  "  Ormulum,"  from  the  name  of  its  author,  Orme, 
or  Ormin,  written  in  imitation  of  Saxon  poetry,  without 
rhyme,  but  in  the  English  language,  in  its  very  infancy. 
Next  to  this  stands  a  curious  volume  of  prodigious  size,  en- 


Rask's  Anglo-Saxon  Grammar,  Preface,  p.  47. 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  243 

titled  "  Sowle-hele  "  (or  Soul's  Health),  which  has  been  re- 
ferred to  a  period  shortly  anterior  to  the  thirteenth  century. 
It  is  beautifully  written  on  vellum,  and  elegantly  illuminat- 
ed ;  and  contains  a  metrical  paraphrase  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  object  of  the 
compiler  to  form  a  complete  body  of  legendary  and  Scrip- 
tural history  in  verse,  or  rather  to  collect  into  one  view  all 
the  religious  poetry  he  could  find.  Apparently  coeval  with 
this,  is  another  version  of  a  similar  description,  comprising 
a  large  portion  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  but  evidently  the 
work  of  another  hand,  and  composed  in  the  Northern  dialect 
of  that  age.  In  the  same  dialect  is  a  rhymed  version  of 
the  Psalms,  which  has  been  referred  to  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth or  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
following  is  the  version  of  the  hundredth  psalm  : 

"  Mirthes  to  God  al  erthe  that  es, 
Serves  to  Loverd  in  fames, 
In  go  yhe  ai  in  his  siht, 
In  gladnes  that  is  so  briht, 
Whites  that  loverd  god  is  he  thus  ; 
He  us  made,  and  our  self  noht  us, 
His  folke  and  shep  of  his  fode, 
In  gos  his  ghates  that  are  gode ; 
In  schrift,  his  worches  belive. 
In  ympnes  to  him  ye  schrive, 
Heryhes  his  name  for  loverde  is  heiide, 
In  all  his  merci  do  in  strende  and  strende." 

Somewhat  later  lived  Richard  Rolle,  a  hermit  of  the  Au- 
gustine order,  who  resided  at  Hampole  near  Doncaster. 
He  died  A.  D.  1349.  He  translated  the  Psalter  into  Eng- 
lish, and  wrote  a  gloss  upon  it.  The  writer  of  a  book,  in 
1470,  called  the  "  Looking-glass  of  the  Blessed  Virgin," 
says  :  "  I  have  given  but  a  few  psalms  translated  into  Eng- 


244  EAKLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

lisli,  because  you  have  them  at  hand  of  the  version  of  Rich- 
ard Hampole,  or  of  that  of  the  English  Bible,  if  you  have 
but  leave  to  read  them."  Some  have  supposed  Hampole's 
translation  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  Wiclifs,  but  without 
foundation.  Before  the  prologue  is  the  following  sentence  : 
"  Here  begynneth  the  prologe  uppon  the  Sauter  that  Rich- 
ard, hermyte  of  Hampole,  translated  into  englyshe  after  the 
sentence  of  doctours  and  resoun."  The  second  psalm  runs 
thus :  "  Whi  gnastide  the  folke  ?  and  the  puple  thoughte  y 
dit  thoughtis  ?  The  prophete  snybbyng  hem  that  shulde  tur- 
mente  crist  seith,  whi  ?  as  hoo  seith,  what  enchesun  hadde 
thei  ?     Sotheli  none  but  yuel  wille,"  etc. 

In  the  Harleian  Library  is  a  somewhat  different  translation 
of  the  Psalter,  with  a  gloss  upon  it.  In  the  king's  library 
is  a  third  imperfect  copy  of  a  translation  of  the  Psalter 
from  Psalm  Ixxxix.  to  cxviii.  There  is  nothing  in  the  man- 
uscript to  show  the  author.  The  eighty-ninth  psalm  begins 
thus  :  "  Lord,  thou  are  made  refute  to  us  fro  generacioun 
to  generacioun."  At  the  end  of  the  Hampole  Psalter  are 
various  canticles  and  songs  translated  and  comrnented  upon. 
In  the  manuscript  library  of  Bennet  College,  Cambridge,  is 
a  gloss,  in  the  English  spoken  after  the  Conquest,  on  the 
following  books  of  the  New  Testament :  Mark,  Luke,  Ro- 
mans, Corinthians,  Galatians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Co- 
lossians,  Thessalonians,  Timothy,  Titus,  Philemon,  and 
Hebrews.  Between  Colossians  and  Thessalonians  is  the 
apocryphal  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans.  Mark  i.  7  is  thus  : 
"  And  he  prechyde  sayande,  a  stalworthier  thane  I  shal 
come  efter  me  of  whom  I  ane  not  worthi  downfallande,  or 
knelande,  to  louse  the  thwonge  of  his  chawcers  "  ;  vi.  22, 
"  When  the  doughter  of  that  Herodias  was  in  comyn  and 
had  tombylde  and  pleside  to  Harowde,  and  also  to  the  sit- 


EAKLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  245 

tande  at  mete,  the  kynge  says  to  the  wench."  Towards  the 
close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  John  de  Trevisa,  vicar  of 
Berkeley,  Gloucestershire,  at  the  desire  of  his  patron.  Lord 
Berkeley,  translated  some  passages  of  the  Bible,  which  were 
painted  on  the  walls  of  his  patron's  chapel  at  Berkeley  Castle, 
or  which  are  scattered  in  some  parts  of  his  works,  several 
copies  of  which  are  known  to  exist  in  manuscript,  and  which 
seems  to  have  given  rise  to  the  mistaken  notion  that  he 
translated  the  whole  Bible. 

About  six  miles  from  the  town  of  Richmond,  in  York- 
shire, is  the  small  village  of  Wiclif,  which,  from  the  Con- 
quest to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  the  residence 
of  a  family  of  the  same  name.  In  this  village,  or  in  its 
immediate  vicinity,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  John 
Wiclif  was  born,  about  the  year  1324.  He  was  first  admitted 
to  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  but  soon  removed  to  Merton  Col- 
lege, an  institution  which  supplied  the  Church  with  Thomas 
Brad  ward  ine,  the  profound  doctor,  Walter  Burley,  the  per- 
spicuous doctor,  William  Occham,  the  singular  doctor  or 
venerable  inceptor,  and,  finally,  with  Wiclif,  who  was  called 
the  evangelic  or  Gospel  doctor.  Wiclif  is  described  by 
his  bitterest  enemy  as  "  second  to  none  in  philosophy,  and 
in  scholastic  discipline  altogether  incomparable."  He  also 
diligently  studied  the  municipal,  civil,  and  canon  laws,  and 
the  primitive  Christian  writers.  But  his  studies  were  nobly 
distinguished  from  those  of  his  contemporaries  by  his  ar- 
dent devotion  to  the  Bible  itself.  This  implied  in  him  a 
jtrength  of  soul  and  an  independence  of  purpose  which  it  is 
Jifficult  for  us  fully  to  appreciate.  The  compilations  of 
Peter  Lombard  were  in  much  higher  and  more  general  esti- 
mation than  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  The  graduate, 
•ays  Roger  Bacon,  "  who  reads,  or  lectures  on  the  text  of 
21* 


246  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

Scripture,  is  compelled  to  give  way  to  the  reader  of  the 
Sentences,  who  everywhere  enjoys  honor  and  precedence. 
He  who  reads  the  Sentences  has  the  choice  of  his  hour 
and  ample  entertainment  among  the  religious  orders.  He 
who  reads  the  Bible  is  destitute  of  these  advantages,  and 
sues,  like  a  mendicant,  to  the  reader  of  the  Sentences,  for 
the  use  of  such  hour  as  it  may  please  him  to  grant.  He 
who  reads  the  Sums  of  Divinity  is  everywhere  allowed  to 
hold  disputations,  and  is  venerated  as  master  ;  he  who  only 
reads  the  text  is  not  permitted  to  dispute  at  all ;  which  is 
absurd.''''  The  Scriptural  teachers  became  objects  of  deris- 
ion, and  were  termed  the  "  bullocks  of  Abraham,"  and  the 
"  asses  of  Balaam." 

In  1372,  Wiclif  received  the  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity, 
and  was  promoted  to  the  theological  chair  of  Oxford.  He  soon 
published  an  Exposition  of  the  Decalogue,  a  plain  Scriptural 
statement  of  the  principles  of  the  two  tables.  In  another  work 
of  Wiclif 's  (one  of  the  most  copious  and  important  of  all  his 
performances)  on  the  "  Truth  and  Meaning  of  Scripture," 
he  contends  for  the  supreme  authority  and  entire  sufficiency 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  for  the  necessity  of  translating  them 
into  English.  About  three  hundred  of  the  manuscript  hom- 
ilies of  Wiclif  are  in  the  British  Museum  and  elsewhere. 
They  are  rapid  expositions  of  the  Bible,  called  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  day  postils.  The  Holy  Scriptures  ai'e  repre- 
sented throughout  as  the  supreme  authority. 

"  There  was  another  weapon,"  says  Dr.  Lingard,  the 
Romish  historian,  "  which  Wiclif  wielded  with  equal  ad- 
dress, and  still  greater  efficiency.  In  proof  of  his  doctrine 
he  appealed  to  the  Scriptures,  and  thus  made  his  disciples 
judges  between  him  and  the  bishops.  Several  versions  of 
the  sacred  writings  were  even  then  extant ;  but  they  were 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  247 

confined  to  libraries,  or  only  in  the  hands  of  persons  who 
aspired  to  superior  sanctity.  Wiclif  made  a  new  transla- 
tion, multiplied  the  copies  with  the  aid  of  transcribers,  and 
by  his  poor  priests  recommended  it  to  the  perusal  of  their 
hearei's.  In  their  hands  it  became  an  engine  of  loonderful 
power.  Men  were  flattered  with  an  appeal  to  their  private 
judgment ;  the  new  doctrines  insensibly  acquired  partisans 
and  protectors  in  the  higher  classes,  who  alone  are  acquaint- 
ed with  the  use  of  letters ;  a  spirit  of  inquiry  was  gener- 
ated ;  and  the  seeds  were  sown  of  that  religious  revolution, 
which,  in  a  little  more  than  a  century,  astonished  and  con- 
vulsed the  nations  of  Europe."  There  is  one  inaccuracy 
in  the  preceding  quotation.  There  was  not,  as  it  should 
seem,  any  complete  version  of  the  English  Bible  in  exist- 
ence. The  only  circumstance,  which  can  throw  any  shade 
of  suspicion  over  Wiclif's  claim  to  the  honor  of  presenting 
England  with  the  first  complete  version  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  is  the  existence  of  a  little  work  by  the 
title  of  Elucidarum  Bibliorum,  or  "  Prologue  to  the  Com- 
plete Version  of  the  Bible."  The  Bodleian  Library  has  a 
manuscript  of  this  book,  to  which  is  annexed  the  date  of 
MCCC  .  .  .  VIII.  If  this  date  be  correct,  it  cuts  off"  the 
claim  of  Wiclif.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  interval  be- 
tween the  two  Roman  numerals  C  and  V  was  originally  occu- 
pied by  another  numeral,  of  which  there  has  been  a  manifest 
erasure  ;  and  if,  as  is  most  probable,  that  numeral  was  a  C, 
the  date  of  the  manuscript,  instead  of  1308,  will  be  1408, 
a  period  later  than  the  death  of  Wiclif,  by  twenty-four 
years.  In  the  tenth  chapter,  moreover,  the  work  appeals 
to  the  authority  of  Gerson,  a  distinguished  divine  of  that 
age,  by  the  name  of  Parisiensis ;  and  as  Gerson  was  not 
born  till  1363,  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  he  could  have 


248  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

been  an  author  of  celebrity  till  after  the  death  of  Wiclif, 
which  happened  in  1384.  For  these  and  other  reasons,  it 
seems  clear  that  Wiclif  had  no  predecessor  in  his  vast 
undertaking. 

That  Wiclif  actually  performed  the  great  work  which 
now  bears  his  name,  is  altogether  certain.  Knyghton,  a 
zealous  Romanist,  says  :  "  This  master  John  Wiclif  translat- 
ed the  Gospel  out  of  Latin  into  English,  and  by  that  means 
laid  it  more  open  to  the  laity,  and  to  women,  who  could 
read,  than  it  used  to  be  to  the  most  learned  of  the  clergy, 
and  those  of  them  who  had  the  best  understanding ;  and 
that  which  used  to  be  precious  to  both  clergy  and  laity,  and 
the  jewel  of  the  Church,  is  turned  into  the  sport  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  so  the  Gospel  pearl  is  cast  abroad  and  trodden  under 
foot  of  swine." 

Wiclif 's  translation  was  made  entirely  from  the  Latin 
text,  the  only  one  at  that  time  in  use.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
Sharon  Turner,  that  Wiclif 's  ordinary  style  is  less  perspic- 
uous and  cultivated  than  that  of  Rolle,  who  lived  and  wrote 
many  years  earlier  ;  but  in  the  version  of  the  Scriptures, 
"  the  unrivalled  combination  of  force,  simplicity,  dignity, 
and  feeling  in  the  original,  compel  his  old  English,  as  they 
seem  to  compel  every  other  language  into  which  they  are 
translated,  to  be  clear,  interesting,  and  energetic." 

The  following  is  a  specimen  at  random  of  Wiclif 's  trans- 
lation. Matt.  V.  :  "  And  Jhesus  seynge  the  people,  went  up 
into  an  hil  ;  and  whanne  he  was  sette,  his  disciples  camen 
to  him.  And  he  openyde  his  mouthe,and  taughte  hem  ;  and 
seide,  Blessid  be  pore  men  in  spirit ;  for  the  kyngdom  of 
hevenes  is  herun.  Blessid  ben  mylde  men  ;  for  thei  schu- 
lenweelde  the  erthe.  Blessid  ben  thei  that  mournen  ;  for 
thei  schal  be  coumfertid.     Blessid  be  thei  that  hungren  and 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  249 

thirsten  rightvvisnesse  ;  for  thei  schal  be  fulfilled.  Blessid 
ben  merciful  men  ;  for  thei  schal  gets  mercy.  Blessid  ben 
that  ben  of  clene  herte  ;  for  thei  schulcn  se  God.  Blessid 
ben  pesible  men  ;  for  thei  schulen  be  depid  goddis  children. 
Blessid  ben  thei  that  sufTren  persecucioun  for  rightvvisnesse  ; 
for  the  kyngdom  of  hevenes  is  hern." 

That  VViclif  received  aid  in  his  great  work,  seems  highly 
probable.  At  the  end  of  a  portion  of  Baruch  are  the  fol- 
lowing words,  subscribed  by  a  different  hand,  and  in  less 
durable  ink  :  "  Explicit  translationem  Nicolay  de  Herford." 
The  manuscripts  of  this  version  are  to  this  day  exceedingly 
numerous.  His  work  at  the  time  was  denounced  and  pro- 
scribed, as  tainted  almost  with  the  guilt  of  sacrilege.  A 
few  years  after,  a  constitution  of  Archbishop  Arundel  de- 
clares that  "  it  is  a  perilous  thing,  as  St.  Jerome  testifieth, 
to  translate  the  text  of  holy  Scripture  from  one  idiom  into 
another;  since  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  retain  in  every  ver- 
sion an  identity  of  sense  ;  and  the  same  blessed  Jerome, 
even  though  he  were  inspired,  confesseth  that  herein  he  had 
himself  been  frequently  mistaken."  It  was  therefore  enact- 
ed and  ordained,  that  "  henceforth  no  one  should  translate 
any  text  of  sacred  Scripture,  by  his  own  authority,  into  the 
English  or  any  other  tongue,  in  the  way  of  book,  tract,  or 
treatise ;  and  that  no  publication  of  this  sort,  composed  in 
the  time  of  John  Wiclif,  or  since,  or  thereafter  to  be  com- 
posed, should  be  read,  either  in  part  or  in  whole,  either  in 
public  or  in  private,  under  the  pain  of  the  greater  excom- 
munication, until  such  translation  should  be  approved  by 
the  diocesan  of  the  place  ;  or,  if  the  matter  should  require 
it,  by  a  provincial  council ;  every  one  who  should  act  in 
contradiction  to  this  order,  to  be  punished  as  an  abettor  of 
heresy  and  error." 


250  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

Wiclif,  in  his  defence  of  the  translation,  says  :  "  They 
who  call  it  heresy  to  speak  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  Eng- 
lish must  be  prepared  to  condemn  the  Holy  Ghost,  that 
gave  it  in  tongues  to  the  apostles  of  Christ,  to  speak  the 
word  of  God  in  all  languages  that  were  ordained  of  God 
under  heaven."  In  defiance  of  all  obstructions,  however, 
copies  of  the  translation  were  circulated  with  astonishing 
rapidity  among  all  classes  of  people.  In  1429  the  cost  of 
a  Testament  of  Wiclif 's  version  was  no  less  than  £2  16s. 
8d.,  a  sum  probably  equal  to  .£30  of  present  money,  and 
considerably  more  than  half  the  annual  income  which  was 
then  considered  adequate  to  the  maintenance  of  a  substan- 
tial yeoman.  From  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  Refor- 
mation, the  owner  of  a  fragment  of  Wiclif 's  Bible,  or  in- 
deed of  any  other  portion  of  his  writings,  was  conscious  of 
harboring  a  witness  whose  appearance  would  infallibly  con- 
sign him  to  the  dungeon,  and  possibly  to  the  flames.* 
"  Then,"  says  Milton,  "  was  the  sacred  Bible  sought  out 
from  dusty  corners;  the  schools  were  opened  ;  divine  and 
human  learning  raked  out  of  the  embers  of  forgotten 
tongues  ;  princes  and  cities  trooped  apace  to  the  newly 
erected  banner  of  salvation ;  martyrs,  with  the  unresistible 


*  See  Wiclif 's  Life  by  Le  Bas,  Harper's  edition,  passim.  Also  the 
more  elaborate  Life,  in  2  vols.  8vo,  by  Professor  Vaughan,  who  made  a 
careful  search  into  all  the  Wiclif  manuscripts  known  to  be  in  existence. 
The  University  of  Oxford  has  lately  brought  out  a  version  of  Wiclif's 
Old  Testament,  edited  by  Rev.  J.  Forshall  and  F.  Madden,  Esq.,  libra- 
rians of  the  British  Museum.  See  also  Rev.  H.  H.  Baber's  "  Histori- 
cal Account  of  the  Saxon  and  English  Versions  of  the  Scriptures  pre- 
vious to  the  Opening  of  the  Fifteenth  Century,"  prefixed  by  Mr.  Baber 
to  his  edition  of  Wiclif's  translation  of  the  New  Testament;  "in 
which,"  says  Mr.  Le  Bas,  "  will  be  found  the  most  complete  body  of 
information  hitherto  collected  relative  to  this  interesting  subject." 


EARLY   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  251 

might  of  weakness,  shook  the  powers  of  darkness,  and 
scorned  the  fiery  rage  of  the  old  Red  Dragon."* 

The  art  of  printing  was  discovered  in  1452.  In  1462 
the  Latin  Bible  was  printed.  In  1488  the  Old  Testament 
in  Hebrew  was  printed,  and  in  1516  the  Greek  Testament 
was  published  at  Basle.  In  1474  the  art  of  printing  was 
brought  into  England  by  William  Caxton,  and  a  printing- 
press  was  set  up  by  him  at  Westminster.  These  proceed- 
ings greatly  alarmed  the  monks,  who  declaimed  from  the 
pulpits  that  "  there  was  now  a  new  language  discovered, 
called  Greek,  of  which  people  should  beware,  since  it  was 
that  which  produced  all  the  heresies  ;  that  in  this  language 
was  come  forth  a  book  called  the  New  Testament,  which 
was  now  in  every  body's  hands,  and  was  full  of  thorns  and 
briers  ;  that  there  was  also  another  language  now  started 
up,  which  they  called  Hebrew,  and  those  who  learned  it 
were  termed  Hebrews."  The  vicar  of  Croydon,  Surrey, 
preaching  at  Paul's  Cross,  said  :  "  We  must  root  out  print' 
ing,  or  printing  will  root  out  us.''"' 

In  England,  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  the  diffusion  of 
the  principles  of  the  Reformation  was  accompanied  with 
new  translations  into  the  vernacular  languages.  For  the 
first  printed  English  translation  of  any  portion  of  the 
Scriptures,  we  are  indebted  to  William  Tindal  (or  Tyn- 
dale,  or  Tyndal).  This  faithful  confessor  was  born  on  the 
borders  of  Wales,  and  was  brought  up  from  a  child,  says 
Fox,  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  While  at  Magdalen 
College,  he  read  privately  to  certain  students  and  fellows, 
some  lectures  in  divinity.  Having  finished  his  education  at 
Cambridge,  he  became  a  private  tutor  to  the  children  of  a 


*  Milton  on  Reformation  in  England. 


252  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

Mr.  Welch,  in  Gloucestershire.  "  This  gentleman,  as  he 
kept  a  good  ordinary  commonly  at  his  table,  there  resorted 
to  him  many  times  sundry  abbots,  deans,  archdeacons,  with 
divers  other  doctors  and  great  beneficed  men ;  who  there, 
together  with  master  Tindal,  sitting  at  the  same  table,  did 
use  many  times  to  enter  communication,  and  talk  of  learned 
men,  as  of  Luther  and  Erasmus  ;  also  of  divers  other  con- 
troversies and  questions  upon  the  Scripture."  Having  in 
vain  attempted  to  introduce  himself  into  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don's family,  in  order  that  he  might  there  with  greater  secu- 
rity prosecute  the  design  which  he  had  formed,  of  translating 
the  New  Testament  into  English,  Tindal  repaired  to  Flan- 
ders, at  the  expense  of  a  Mr.  Humphrey  Monmouth,  of 
London.  At  Antwerp,  with  the  assistance  of  the  learned 
John  Fry,  or  Frith,  and  William  E-oye,  both  afterwards  put 
to  death  for  their  opinions,  he  applied  himself  closely  to 
the  prosecution  of  his  design  of  translating  the  New  Testa- 
ment from  the  original  Greek.  It  was  published  in  1526 
(Fox  says  in  1527),  either  at  Antwerp  or  Hamburg,  without 
a  name,  in  a  moderate  octavo  volume,  without  calendar,  con- 
cordances, or  tables.  Tindal  annexed  a  jyistil  at  the  close 
of  it,  in  which  he  "  desyred  them  that  were  learned  to 
amende,  if  aught  were  found  amysse."  Copies  of  this  im- 
pression were  imported  into  England,  where  they  were 
very  industriously  dispersed  and  read.  Archbishop  War- 
ham,  and  Tonstal,  Bishop  of  London,  immediately  issued 
orders  to  bring  in  all  the  New  Testaments  translated  into 
the  vulgar  tongue,  that  they  might  be  burned.  Those  who 
were  suspected  of  importing  and  concealing  any  of  these 
books,  were  adjudged  by  the  Chancellor,  Sir  Thomas  More, 
to  ride  with  their  faces  to  the  tails  of  their  horses,  with  pa- 
pers on  their  heads,  and  the  New  Testaments,  and  other 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  253 

books  which  they  had  dispersed,  hung  about  their  cloaks, 
and  at  the  Standard  in  Cheapside  to  throw  them  into  a  fire 
prepared  for  that  purpose,  and  to  be  fined  at  the  king's 
pleasure.  An  individual,  having  been  brought  before  More, 
was  asked  by  him  who  were  the  persons  in  London  who 
abetted  or  supported  Tindal ;  to  which  inquiry  the  hereti- 
cal convert  replied,  "It  was  the  Bishop  of  London  who 
maintained  him,  by  sending  a  sum  of  money  to  buy  up  the 
impressions  of  his  Testament  in  order  to  burn  it."  In 
1527,  a  second  edition  was  published  by  the  Dutch  printers  ; 
and  in  1528,  a  third,  each  of  five  thousand  copies.  The 
first  edition  consisted  of  fifteen  hundred  copies.  The  Dutch 
editions  were  printed  in  large  Dutch  letter,  in  duodecimo, 
with  Scripture  references  and  short  notes.  In  the  Apoca- 
lypse are  twenty-one  figures  cut  in  wood,  representing  the 
matters  contained  in  that  book.  A  third  Dutch  edition  was 
soon  published  in  duodecimo.  This  rapid  sale  was  by  no 
means  agreeable  to  the  friends  of  the  Romish  Church. 
Tonstal  preached  against  the  translations,  and  told  the  people 
there  were  no  fewer  than  two  thousand  mistakes  in  them. 
Sir  Thomas  More,  who  was  employed  by  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don to  write  against  Tindal,  and  whose  book  was  published 
in  1529,  charges  Tindal  with  mistranslating  three  words 
of  great  importance,  priests,  church,  and  charity ;  Tindal 
calling  the  first,  seniors ;  the  second,  congregation ;  the 
third,  love.  He  also  charges  him  with  changing  grace  into 
favor,  confession  into  knowledging,  penance  into  repentance^ 
etc.  More  aflirmed,  that  he  had  found  above  one  thousand 
texts  falsely  translated.  In  1530,  a  royal  proclamation  was 
issued,  totally  suppressing  the  translation.  In  the  mean 
time,  Tindal  was  busily  employed  in  translating  the  Penta- 
teuch from  the  Hebrew  into  the  English,  in  which  work  he 
VOL.  II.  22 


254  EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

was  assisted  by  Miles  Coverdale.  It  was  printed  in  1530, 
in  a  small  octavo,  at  different  presses,  and  with  different 
types.  In  the  Preface  he  complained  that  there  was  not  so 
much  as  one  i  in  his  New  Testament,  if  it  wanted  a  tittle 
over  its  head,  but  it  had  been  noted,  and  numbered  to  the 
ignorant  people  for  a  heresy.  In  the  same  year  he  pub- 
lished an  answer  to  Sir  Thomas  More's  treatise,  in  which 
he  vindicates  himself  from  many  of  the  charges  made 
against  him  ;  at  the  same  time  acknowledging  imperfections 
of  the  translation  in  some  respects. 

In  1531  appeared  the  book  of  Jonah,  translated  by  Tin- 
dal,  with  a  large  prologue.  In  the  same  year,  a  translation 
of  Isaiah,  by  George  Joye,  was  published  at  Strasbourg.* 
In  1534  was  published  a  fourth  Dutch  edition  of  Tindal's 
New  Testament,  in  duodecimo,  with  various  prologues,  pis- 
tils, and  tables.  This  edition  seems  to  have  been  revised 
by  Joye.  In  doing  this,  he  took  the  liberty  to  correct  the 
translation,  and  to  give  many  words  their  pure  and  native 
signification.  He  translated  resurrectio  "  the  life  after 
this."  At  the  close  is  the  following :  "  Here  endeth  the 
New  Testament,  dylygentlye  oversene  and  correct,  and 
printed  now  agayne  at  Antwerp  by  me,  widow  of  Christo- 
phall  of  Endhoven,  in  the  year  of  oure  Lord  MDXXXIII,  in 
August."  In  November  came  forth  Tindal's  second  edition, 
or  the  sixth  in  all.  In  the  prologue,  Tindal  says,  "  Here 
hast  thou,  most  dere  reader,  the  New  Testament,  or  cove- 

*  This  Joye  was  a  native  of  Bedfordshire,  and  was  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge. He  there  imbibed  the  truths  of  religion  from  the  Gospel,  and 
underwent  many  sufferings  from  Wolsey,  Fisher,  jVIore,  and  other 
agents  of  the  Pope.  He  was  compelled  to  flee  into  Germany,  where  he 
translated  several  books  of  the  Scripture  into  English.  He  died,  1553, 
a  firm  defender  of  the  faith. 


EARLY   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE   BIBLE.  255 

nant  made  with  us  of  God  in  Christ's  blood,  whiche  I  have 
looked  over  againe  now  at  the  last  with  all  diligence,  and 
compared  it  unto  the  Greke,  and  have  weeded  out  of  it 
many  fautes,  which  lacke  of  helpe  at  the  begynning 
and  oversyght  did  sow  therein."  In  this  prologue,  Tindal 
expresses  himself  much  too  sharply  against  Joye.  In  his 
replication,  Joye  says,  "  He  wold  the  Scripture  were  so 
puerly  and  plyantly  translated,  that  it  needed  neither  note, 
glose,  nor  scholia,  so  that  the  reader  might  once  swimme 
without  a  coi'k." 

"  While  Tindal  was  at  Antwerp,"  says  Fox,  "  a  person 
of  the  name  of  Philips  was  employed  by  the  English 
bishops  to  gain  the  favor  of  Tindal,  by  pretending  friendly 
regai'd  to  him,  and  so  to  compass  his  ruin  ;  which  thing 
was  the  more  easy  to  do,  for  in  the  wily  subtleness  of  this 
world  he  was  simple  and  inexpert.  A  plan  was  laid  for  his 
being  seized  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  and  he  was  had 
to  the  castle  of  Filford,  eighteen  miles  from  Antwerp. 
Here  he  remained  prisoner  more  than  a  year  and  a  half. 
After  many  disputations  and  examinations,  at  last  they  con- 
demned him  as  a  heretic,  by  virtue  of  a  decree  of  the  Em- 
peror, made  at  Augsburg,  and  shortly  after  brought  him 
forth  to  the  place  of  execution,  and  there  tied  him  to  a 
stake,  where,  with  a  fervent  zeal,  and  loud  voice,  he  cried, 
'  Lord,  open  the  eyes  of  the  king,'  and  then  first  he  was 
with  a  halter  strangled,  and  afterward  consumed  with  fire, 
in  the  year  1536.  He  was  a  man  very  frugal,  and  spare  of 
body,  a  great  student,  and  earnest  laborer,  in  the  setting 
forth  of  the  Scriptures  of  God.  He  now  resteth  with  the 
glorious  company  of  Christ's  martyrs,  blessedly  in  the 
Lord,  who  be  blessed  in  all  his  saints,  Amen.  And  thus 
much  of  W,  Tindal,  Christ's  blessed  servant  and  martyr." 


256  EARLY    ENGLISH    VEESIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  1533,  Thomas  Cranmer  was  con- 
secrated Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Primate  of  all 
England.  From  the  first  moment  of  his  advancement,  the 
Archbishop  was  impatient  for  the  circulation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  in  December,  1534,  he  pre- 
vailed on  the  Episcopal  convocation  to  frame  an  address  to 
the  king,  beseeching  him  to  decree  that  the  Bible  should  be 
translated  into  English,  and  that  the  task  should  be  assigned 
to  such  honest  and  learned  men  as  his  Highness  should  be 
pleased  to  nominate.  In  pursuance  of  this  design,  Cranmer 
divided  Tindal's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  nine 
or  ten  parts,  which  he  distributed  among  the  most  learned 
bishops  of  the  time  ;  requiring  that  each  of  them  should 
send  back  his  portion,  carefully  corrected,  by  an  appointed 
day.  With  this  injunction,  every  man  carefully  complied, 
except  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London,  whose  share  of  the 
work  was  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  "  I  marvel  much," 
says  the  insolent  bishop,  "  what  my  lord  of  Canterbury 
meaneth,  that  thus  abuseth  the  people,  and  in  giving  them 
liberty  to  read  the  Scriptures  ;  which  doth  nothing  else  but 
infect  them  with  heresy.  I  have  bestowed  never  an  hour 
on  my  portion,  and  never  will  ;  and  therefore  my  lord  of 
Canterbury  shall  have  his  book  again,  for  I  never  will  be 
guilty  of  bringing  the  simple  people  into  eri'or." 

The  4th  of  October,  1535,  just  three  hundred  years 
from  the  present  time,  was  signalized  by  the  publication,  for 
the  first  time,  of  the  whole  Bible  in  the  English  language. 
It  was  probably  printed  at  Zurich,  in  Switzerland,  by  Chris- 
topher Froschover.  It  was  dedicated  to  Henry  VIII.,  in  the 
following  manner :  "  Unto  the  moost  victorious  Prynce  and 
our  moost  gracyous  soverayne  Lordo,  Kynge  Henry  the 
eyghth,   Kynge  of  Englande  and    of  Fraunce,  Lorde  of 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  257 

Irlande,  etc.,  defendour  of  the  fayth,  and  under  God  the 
chefe  and  suppreme  heade  of  the  Church  of  Englande. 
The  ryght  and  just  administracyon  of  the  laws  that  God 
gave  unto  Moses  and  Josua  ;  the  testimonye  of  faythfulness 
that  God  gave  of  David  ;  the  plenteous  abundance  of  wyse- 
dome  that  God  gave  unto  Solomon  ;  the  lucky  and  prosper- 
ous age  with  the  niultiplicacyon  of  sede  which  God  gave 
unto  Abraham  and  Sara  his  wyfe,  be  geven  unto  you, 
moost  gracyous  Prynce,  with  your  dearest  just  wyfe  and 
moost  vertuous  Pryncesse  Queene  Jane.*  Amen,  your 
grace's  humble  subjecte  and  daylye  oratour,  Myles  Cov- 
erdale." 

Coverdale  was  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  and  was  educated 
at  the  house  of  Austin  Friars,  Cambridge,  of  which  Dx\ 
Barnes,  who  was  afterwards  burned  for  heresy,  was  Prior. 
Entertaining  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  Coverdale 
was  compelled  to  fly  to  the  Continent,  where  he  earnestly 
applied  himself  to  the  study  and  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. Coverdale  remarked,  that  it  was  "  neither  his  labor 
nor  desire  to  have  this  work  put  into  his  hand,  but  that  being 
instantly  required  to  undertake  it,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  mov- 
ing other  men  to  do  the  cost  thereof,  he  was  the  more  bold 
to  take  it  in  hand."  He  sets  it  forth  as  a  special  translation, 
"  not  as  a  checker,  reprover,  or  despiser  of  other  men's 
translations,  but  lowly  and  faithfully  following  his  interpret- 
ers, and  that  under  correction."  He  made  use  of  five  dif- 
ferent translations.  It  is  divided  into  six  tomes.  To  the 
first  is  prefixed  a  "  Calendar  of  the  bokes  of  the  hole  Byble, 

*  As  Henry  was  not  married  to  Jane  Seymour  till  May  20th,  1536, 
more  than  half  a  year  from  the  date  of  finishing  this  Bible,  it  is  prob- 
able that  a  new  title-page  was  inserted  after  the  murder  of  Anne 
Boleyn. 

22* 


258  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

how  they  are  named  in  English  and  Latyne,  how  long  they 
are  wrytten  in  the  allegacions,  how  many  chapters  eveiy 
book  hath,  and  in  what  leafe  every  one  begynneth."  It  is 
adorned  throughout  with  wood-cuts,  pictures,  references, 
etc.  In  the  last  page  are  the  words,  "  Prynted  in  the  yeare 
of  our  Lorde  MDXXXV,  and  fynished  the  fourth  day  of 
October."  A  large  quarto  edition  of  this  Bible  was  printed 
in  1550,  which  was  republished  with  a  new  title  in  1553. 
A  folio  was  printed  in  1550,  and  a  quarto  edition  in  1560. 
After  1561  no  edition  of  it  was  printed. 

In  June,  1536,  the  convocation  of  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury ordered,  that  every  pai-son  or  proprietary  of  a  church 
should  provide  a  Bible  in  Latin  and  English,  to  be  laid  in 
the  choir,  for  every  one  to  read  at  his  pleasure.  The  peo- 
ple were,  however,  admonished  against  the  danger  of  en- 
tanglement in  controversial  niceties,  and  were  directed, 
whenever  they  were  involved  in  difficulty,  to  apply  to  in- 
structors of  competent  learning  and  of  unblemished  char- 
acter. 

In  1537  Matthew's  Bible  appeared.  This  was  an  im- 
pression of  the  whole  Bible  in  English,  completed  under 
the  patronage  of  Cranmer,  by  two  enterprising  publishers, 
Grafton  and  VVhitechurch.  It  appeared  in  one  great  folio 
volume.  The  name  under  which  it  goes,  Matthew's^  is 
undoubtedly  fictitious.  The  translation  was  partly  executed 
by  Tindal  and  partly  by  Coverdale.  It  was  thought  prudent 
to  conceal  from  the  public  the  real  authors  of  the  work. 
The  printing  was  conducted  abroad,  probably  at  Hamburg. 
The  corrector  of  the  whole  was  John  Rogers,  the  proto- 
martyr  in  Mary's  reigu.  The  volume  was  provided  with 
prologues  and  annotations,  chiefly  relating  to  the  sacrament 
of  the   Lord's  Supper,  the  marriage    of  priests,  and   the 


EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  259 

sacrifice  of  the  mass  ;  all  of  which  were  so  offensive  to  the 
Romish  party,  that  afterwards,  during  the  period  of  their 
ascendency,  they  effected  the  suppression  of  these  heretical 
commentaries.  Cranmer  was  filled  with  exultation  on  the 
appearance  of  this  Bible.  The  title  of  Matthew's  Bible  is 
the  following  :  "  The  Bible,  which  is  all  the  Holy  Scripture, 
in  which  are  contayned  the  Olde  and  Newe  Testament, 
truelye  and  purelye  translated  into  Englysh,  by  Thomas 
Matthewe,  MUXXXVII,  set  forth  with  the  King's  most  gra- 
cious lycence." 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1538,  a  quarto  edition  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  the  Vulgate  Latin,  and  Coverdale's 
English,  bearing  the  name  of  HoUybushe,  was  printed,  with 
the  king's  license,  by  James  Nicolson.  Of  this,  another  more 
correct  edition  was  published  in  1539,  in  octavo,  and  dedicat- 
ed to  Lord  Cromwell.  In  1538  an  edition  in  quarto  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  English,  with  Erasmus's  Latin  transla- 
tion, was  printed,  with  the  king's  license,  by  Redman.  In 
this  year  it  was  resolved  to  revise  Matthew's  Bible,  and  to 
print  a  correct  edition  of  it.  The  printing  was  commenced 
in  Paris ;  but  the  Inquisition  interposed,  and  ordered  the  im- 
pression, consisting  of  twenty-five  thousand  copies,  to  be 
burned.  Some  of  the  copies,  however,  escaped  the  fire. 
The  presses,  types,  and  printers  were  conveyed  to  England, 
and  in  the  following  year  the  work  was  finished.  It  ap- 
peared in  the  form  of  a  large  folio,  enriched  with  a  noble 
preface  by  Cranmer,  and  consequently  known  by  the  title  of 
Cranmer's  Bible.  The  title  is  as  follows  :  "  The  Byble  in 
Englyshe,  that  is  to  say,  the  content  of  all  the  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, both  of  the  olde  and  newe  testament,  truly  translated 
after  the  veryte  of  the  Hebrue  and  Greke  texts  by  the 
dylygent  studye  of  diverse  excellent  but  learned  men,  ex- 


260  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

pert  in  the  forseyde  tonges."  In  this  edition,  Matthew's 
Bible  was  revised,  and  several  alterations  and  corrections 
made  in  the  translation.  The  additions  to  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  originals  in  the  Latin  Vulgate  were  translated,  and 
inserted  in  a  smaller  letter  than  the  text.  A  second  edition 
was  printed  either  in  this  or  the  following  year. 

Notwithstanding  the  repeated  injunctions  which  had  been 
issued  for  providing  every  church  with  an  English  Bible, 
there  were  many  parishes  in  England  still  unfurnished  with 
the  sacred  volume.  For  this  reason  a  royal  proclamation 
was  issued  in  May,  1540,  to  enforce  the  ordinance  in  ques- 
tion, on  the  penalty  of  forty  shillings  a  month,  so  long  as 
the  omission  should  continue. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1539,  another  Bible  was  print- 
ed by  John  Byddel,  called  Taverner's  Bible,  from  the 
name  of  its  conductor,  Richard  Taverner ;  who  was  edu- 
cated at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  patronized  by  Lord  Crom- 
well, and  probably  encouraged  by  him  to  undertake  the 
work,  on  account  of  his  skill  in  the  Greek  tongue.  It  is 
not  simply  a  revisal  of  Cranmer's  Bible,  nor  a  new  version, 
but  a  kind  of  intermediate  work,  being  a  correction  of 
Matthew's  Bible,  many  of  whose  marginal  notes  are  adopt- 
ed, and  many  omitted,  and  others  inserted  by  the  editor. 
After  Cromwell's  death,  Taverner  was  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  through  the  influence  of  the  Romish  bish- 
ops. He  escaped,  however,  and  reinstated  himself  in  the 
king's  favor.  In  1540  five  editions  of  the  whole  Bible  ap- 
peared, to  which  Cranmer  prefixed  a  preface.  In  1541  one 
edition  of  Cranmer's  Bible  was  finished  by  Richard  Grafton  ; 
who,  in  the  November  following,  completed  also  another 
Bible  of  the  largest  volume,  which  was  superintended,  at 
the  king's  command,  by  Tonstal,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  261 

Heath,  Bishop  of  Rochester.  In  1542  a  fruitless  attempt 
was  made  by  Cranmer  to  procure  a  revision  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  popish  party  soon  prevailed,  and  prohib- 
ited and  abolished  Tindal's  translation,  but  allowed  other 
translations  to  remain  in  force  under  certain  restrictions. 
In  1544  the  Pentateuch  was  printed  by  John  Day  and  Wil- 
liam Seres.  In  1546  the  king  prohibited  by  proclamation 
the  having  and  reading  of  Wiclif's,  Tindal's,  and  Cover- 
dale's  translations,  and  prohibited  the  use  of  any  other  than 
such  as  were  allowed  by  Parliament. 

It  is  an  interesting  circumstance  connected  with  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures,  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  languages  was  preserved  in  England  to  some 
extent.  In  the  long  period  of  more  than  a  thousand  years 
of  general  darkness  (from  420,  the  date  of  Jerome's  death, 
to  1494,  when  the  illustrious  Reuchlin  arose),  there  was  in 
England  in  every  century,  except  the  fifth  and  sixth,  some 
scholar  eminent  for  his  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  language. 
In  the  eleventh  century.  Archbishops  Ansel m  and  Lanfranc 
seem  to  have  been  well  versed  in  the  original  languages  of 
Scripture.  The  latter  corrected  the  Vulgate  by  the  He- 
brew text.  William  the  Conqueror  permitted  a  great  num- 
ber of  Jews  to  come  over  from  Rouen  and  settle  in  Eng- 
land about  the  year  1087.  At  York,  at  one  time,  there 
were  fifteen  hundred.  Hence  some  of  the  English  ecclesi- 
astics became  acquainted  with  their  books  and  language. 
In  the  twelfth  century,  Gilbert,  monk  of  Westminster,  Ade- 
lard,  monk  of  Bath,  and  Daniel  Morley,  of  Oxford,  were 
skilled  in  Hebrew.  In  the  following  century,  Robert  Grost- 
head,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  Gregory  of  Huntington,  Robert 
Dodford,  librarian  of  Ramsey,  and  Roger  Bacon,  were  well 
acquainted  with  the  original  Scriptures.     In  the  fourteenth 


262  EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS   OF    THE    BIBLE. 

century,  Richard  de  Bury  founded  a  large  library  at  Oxford, 
in  which  he  provided  both  Hebrew  and  Greek  grammars.  In 
1359  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh  enforced  the  necessity  of 
having  recourse  to  the  Hebrew  original  in  doubtful  passages. 
In  the  fifteenth  century,  Adam  of  Norwich  translated  all  the 
Old  Testament  from  Hebrew  into  Latin,  except  the  Psalter. 
One  Laurence  Holbech,  monk  of  Ramsey,  finished  a  He- 
brew lexicon  which  had  been  commenced  by  the  Jews, 
William  Grey,  Bishop  of  Ely,  was  also  a  most  zealous  stu- 
dent in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.*  "About  the  latter 
times  of  King  Henry  VIII.,"  says  Strype,  "many  young 
ladies,  daughters  of  men  of  nobility  and  quality,  were  bred 
up  to  skill  in  tongues,  and  other  human  learning,  tak- 
ing example,  I  suppose,  from  that  king,  who  took  special 
care  for  the  educating  of  his  daughters,  as  well  as  his  son, 
in  learning.  And  they  were  happy  in  learned  instructors. 
His  last  wife,  Catharine  Parr,  was  a  learned  as  well  as  a 
godly  lady.  And  Lady  Jane,  the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk,  that  unhappy  queen,  had  excellent  learning.  Dr. 
Meredith  Hanmer  read  Eusebius  in  Greek  to  a  certain  hon- 
orable lady,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  epistle  before  his  English 
translation  of  that  book ;  which  gave  him  occasion  to  pub- 
lish the  said  translation.  And  before  all  these.  Sir  Thomas 
More  had  a  daughter  named  Margaret,  whom  he  bred  up  in 
ingenuous  literature.  She  composed  a  Latin  oration  and 
some  verses,  which  her  father  showed  to  Voysey,  Bishop  of 
Exeter,  whereat  he  was  much  moved  with  delight,  and  sent 
her  a  Portugue  by  her  father,  which  he  inclosed  in  a  letter 
to  her.    And  in  1537  there  was  one  Elizabeth  Lucar,  a  cit- 


*  See  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  "  Motives  to  the  Study  of  Hebrew." 
London, 1814. 


EARLY   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  263 

izen's  wife,  buried  in  St.  Laurance  Pountney's  church, 
daughter  of  one  Paul  Withirel.  She  understood  Latin, 
Spanish,  and  ItaUan,  and  reading  them  with  perfect  readi- 
ness and  utterance.  Of  the  women  in  King  Edward's  reign, 
we  may  judge  and  wonder.  Nicholas  Udal,  in  writing  to 
Queen  Catharine,  says :  '  But  now,  in  this  gracious  and 
blissful  time  of  knowledge,  in  which  it  hath  pleased  God 
Almighty  to  reveal  and  show  abroad  the  light  of  his  most 
holy  Gospel,  what  a  number  is  there  of  noble  women,  es- 
pecially here  in  this  realm  of  England,  yea,  and  how  many 
in  the  years  of  tender  virginity,  not  only  as  well  seen,  and 
as  familiarly  traded  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  tongues  as  in  their 
own  mother  language,  but  also  both  in  all  kinds  of  profane 
literature  and  liberal  arts,  exacted,  studied,  and  exercised  ; 
and  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  theology  so  ripe,  that  they 
are  able,  aptly,  and  with  much  grace,  either  to  indite  or 
translate  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  for  the  public  inspection 
and  edifying  of  the  unlearned  multitude.  Neither  is  it  now 
a  strange  thing  to  hear  gentlewomen,  instead  of  most  vain 
communication  about  the  moon  shining  in  water,  to  use 
grave  and  substantial  talk  in  Latin  or  Greek,  with  their  hus- 
bands, of  godly  matters.  It  is  now  no  news  in  England 
for  young  damsels  in  noble  houses,  and  in  the  courts  of 
princes,  instead  of  cards  and  other  instruments  of  idle  tri- 
fling, to  have  continually  in  their  hands  either  psalms,  hom- 
ilies, and  other  devoted  meditations,  or  else  Paul's  Epistles 
or  some  holy  book  of  Scripture  matters  ;  and  as  familiarly 
to  read  or  reason  thereof  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  or  Ital- 
ian, as  in  English.  It  is  now  a  common  thing  to  see  young 
virgins  so  nursed  and  trained  in  the  study  of  letters,  that 
they  willingly  set  all  other  vain  pastimes  at  naught  for  learn- 
ing's sake.     It  is  now  no  news  at  all  to  see  queens  and  la- 


264  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

dies  of  most  high  state  and  progeny,  instead  of  courtly  dal- 
liance, to  embrace  virtuous  exercises  of  reading  and  writing, 
and  with  most  earnest  study,  both  early  and  late,  to  apply 
themselves  to  the  acquiring  of  knowledge,  as  well  as  in  all 
other  liberal  ai'ts  and  disciplines,  as  also  most  especially  of 
God,  and  his  most  holy  word.'  "  * 

Upon  the  accession  of  Edward  VI.,  the  severe  statute 
of  Henry  VIII.,  restraining  the  circulation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, was  repealed  ;  and  a  royal  injunction  was  published, 
that  not  only  the  whole  English  Bible  should  be  placed 
in  churches,  but  also  the  paraphrase  of  Erasmus  in  Eng- 
lish, to  the  end  of  the  four  Evangelists.  It  was  likewise 
ordered,  that  every  parson,  vicar,  curate,  etc.,  under  the 
degree  of  a  bachelor  of  divinity,  should  possess  the  New 
Testament  both  in  Latin  and  English,  with  the  paraphrase 
of  Erasmus  upon  it ;  and  that  the  bishops,  etc.,  in  their  vis- 
itations and  synods,  should  examine  them,  how  they  had 
profited  in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  was  also 
appointed  that  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  of  the  mass  should 
be  read  in  English;  and  that  on  every  Sunday  and  holiday 
one  chapter  of  the  New  Testament  in  English  should  be 
plainly  and  distinctly  read  at  matins,  and  one  chapter  of  the 
Old  Testament  at  even-song.  During  the  course  of  this 
reign,  that  is,  in  less  than  seven  years  and  six  months, 
eleven  impressions  of  the  whole  English  Bible  were  pub- 
lished, and  six  of  the  English  New  Testament ;  besides  an 
English  translation  of  the  whole  New  Testament,  para- 
phrased by  Erasmus,  The  Bibles  were  printed  according 
to  the  preceding  editions,  whether  Tindal's,  Coverdale's, 
Matthew's,  Cranmer's,  or  Taverner's ;   that  is,  with  a  dif- 

*  Strype's  Life  of  Archbishop  Parker,  pp.  179,  180. 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  265 

ferent  text,  and  different  notes.  It  is  doubtful,  however, 
whether  there  were  any  translations,  or  correction  of  a 
translation,  in  Edward's  reign. 

Many  of  the  principal  Reformers  having  been  driven  to 
Geneva  during  the  persecutions  of  Queen  Mary's  reign, 
they  published  in  1557  an  English  New  Testament,  printed 
by  Conrad  Badius  ;  the  first  in  our  language  which  con- 
tained the  distinction  of  verses  by  numerical  figures,  after 
the  manner  of  the  Greek  Testament,  which  had  been  pub- 
lished by  Robert  Stephens  in  1551.  Stephens,  indeed,  pub- 
lished his  figures  in  the  margin,  while  the  Geneva  editors 
prefixed  theirs  to  the  beginning  of  minute  subdivisions,  with 
breaks,  after  our  present  manner.  The  principal  transla- 
tors at  Geneva  were  Miles  Coverdale,  Bartholomew  Trahe- 
ron.  Dean  of  Chichester,  Christopher  Goodman,  Margaret 
Professor  of  Divinity  at  Oxford,  Anthony  Gilby,  William 
Whittingham  of  Oxford,  the  translator  of  the  Psalms, 
Thomas  Sampson,  afterwards  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  Ox- 
ford, and  Thomas  Cole  of  Oxford.  Others  add  John  Knox, 
John  Bodleigh,  and  John  Pullain.  They  took  up  their  res- 
idence at  Geneva  about  the  year  1555.  In  1557  there  ap- 
peared in  a  small  duodecimo,  "  The  New  Testament  of  our 
Lorde  Jesus  Christ,  conferred  diligently  with  the  Greke  and 
best  approved  Translations."  It  is  printed  in  a  small,  but 
very  beautiful  character.  A  second  edition  of  this  Testa- 
ment, printed  at  Geneva,  with  short  marginal  notes  in  the 
same  volume,  was  published  in  1560.  Strype  intimates  that 
this  was  the  only  English  translation  revised  and  corrected  ; 
and  that,  as  they  had  finished  the  New  Testament,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  revise  the  Old.  Not  having  made  an  end  of  this 
revision  at  the  time  of  Elizabeth's  accession,  some  of  the 
company  ramained  at  Geneva,  to  finish  it.  In  1560  the 
VOL.  II.  23 


266  EARLY    ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE   BIBLE. 

whole  Bible  was  printed  at  Geneva,  in  quarto,  by  Rowland 
Hill,  with  an  epistle  to  the  Queen,  and  another  to  the  reader. 
It  is  said  that  the  translators  had  the  assistance  of  Calvin 
and  Beza.  This  Bible  has  been  frequently  reprinted.  In 
August,  1557,  Matthew  Parker,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  wrote  in  his  Journal,  "  I  persist  in  the  same 
constancy,  upholden  by  the  grace  and  goodness  of  my  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  by  whose  inspiration  I  have  fin- 
ished the  book  of  Psalms  turned  into  vulgar  verse." 

About  the  year  1565,  Archbishop  Parker  resolved  to  ac- 
complish that  which  his  predecessor,  Cranmer,  had  attempted 
in  vain.  He  distributed  portions  of  the  Scriptures  to  the 
bishops  and  other  divines,  sending  his  instructions  in  regard 
to  the  manner  in  which  they  should  proceed.  The  Bishops 
of  Worcester,  Rochester,  Man,  Ely,  St.  David's,  and  Nor- 
wich, were  among  the  number.  After  they  had  returned 
their  translations,  Parker,  with  other  learned  divines  in  his 
family,  corrected  the  whole,  and  prepared  the  volume  for 
the  press.  It  appeared  in  1568,  both  in  quarto  and  octavo. 
The  chapters  were  divided  into  verses,  without  breaks.  Va- 
rious alterations  were  made  in  the  text,  though  it  substan- 
tially agreed  with  the  preceding  versions.  Original  notes 
were  placed  in  the  margin  by  Parker.  In  April,  1571,  a 
canon  was  made  that  "  the  church  wardens  should  see  that 
the  Holy  Bible  be  in  every  church  in  the  largest  volume,  if 
it  might  conveniently  be,  such  as  were  lately  imprinted  at 
London."  Every  clergyman  was  to  have  one  of  these 
Bibles  in  his  family.  It  was  reprinted  in  1572,  with  a 
thorough  revision,  with  prefaces,  prolegomena,  notes,  etc. 
The  work  seems  to  have  been  done  more  carefully  than 
that  of  the  preceding  edition.  The  Pentateuch  was  pre- 
pared by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  ;  the  five  following  books,  by 


EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS   OF    THE    BIBLE.  267 

Richard  Meneven  ;  the  next  four,  by  the  Bishop  of  Worces- 
ter ;  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther,  and  Job,  by  Andrew  Peer- 
son,  a  chaplain  of  the  Archbishop's  ;  the  Psalms,  by  Thomas 
Becon,  Prebendary  of  Canterbury  ;  Proverbs,  by  an  un- 
known person  ;  Ecclesiastes  and  Solomon's  Song,  by  An- 
drew P.  Eliens ;  the  three  following  books,  by  Robert 
Winton  ;  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  probably,  by  Thomas  Cole  ; 
the  remainder  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don ;  the  Apocrypha,  by  John  Norvicen  ;  the  first  five  books 
of  the  New  Testament,  by  the  Bishop  of  Ely  ;  Romans,  by 
an  unknown  person  ;  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  by 
Goodman,  Dean  of  Westminster ;  the  remaining  books,  by 
unknown  persons.  The  Archbishop's  province  was  to  over- 
see and  finish  the  whole.  He  employed  various  persons 
skilled  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  to  compare  the  old  transla- 
tion with  the  original  text,  and  also  with  other  translations. 
One  of  these  critics  was  Laurence,  who  read  Greek  to  Lady 
Cecil.* 

The  Romanists,  finding  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
keep  the  Bible  out  of  the  hands  of  the  common  people,  re- 
solved to  have  an  English  translation  of  their  own.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1582,  appeared  the  Rheimish  New  Testament 
in  quarto,  printed  at  Rheims  by  John  Fogny.  They  trans- 
lated from  the  vulgar  Latin,  they  said,  "  because  the  Latin 
was  the  most  ancient ;  it  was  corrected  by  St.  Jerome,  com- 
mended by  St.  Austin,  and  used  and  expounded  by  the 
fathers  ;  the  holy  Council  of  Trent  had  declared  it  to  be  au- 
thentical ;  it  was  the  gravest,  sincerest,  of  greatest  majesty, 
and  the  least  partiality.  It  was  exact  and  precise  accord- 
ing to  the  Greek  ;  preferred  by  Beza  himself  to  all  other 

*  Laurence's  critical  notes  are  in  the  Appendix  to  Strype's  Life  of 
Parker,  and  display  considerable  acumen. 


268  EARLY   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE   BIBLE. 

translations,  and  was  truer  than  the  vulgar  Greek  text  itself ^ 
A  great  number  of  words  they  left  untranslated,  as  Pasche, 
Neophyte,  Prepuce,  etc.  They  of  course  used  the  words 
penance,  host,  traditions,  woman  for  loife,  etc.  The  other 
part  of  this  translation,  namely,  the  Old  Testament,  was  not 
published  till  about  twenty-seven  yeai's  afterwards,  when  it 
was  printed  at  Douay,  in  two  volumes,  quarto,  the  first  in 
the  year  1609,  the  other  the  year  after.  The  authors  of 
this  translation  were  William  Allyn,  Gregory  Martin,  and 
Eichard  Bristol.  The  annotations  are  said  to  have  been 
made  by  Thomas  Worthington* 

After  the  death  of  Archbishop  Parker,  a  number  of  edi- 
tions of  the  Bible  were  printed.  Portions  of  it  were  also 
translated  anew.  James  I.,  soon  after  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  came  to  the  resolution  to  bring  out  a  new  trans- 
lation. The  result,  as  is  well  known,  is  our  existing  author- 
ized version.  An  exact  reprint,  page  for  page,  of  James's 
Bible  of  1611,  has  been  lately  put  forth  in  England. 
There  seems  to  be,  at  present,  no  edition,  which  can  lay 
claim  to  the  authority  of  a  correct  standard  text.  The 
earlier  editions  differ  among  themselves  ;  and  even  the  same 
copy  is  discrepant  with  itself;  that  which  corresponds  to 
Italics  in  later  editions  (the  first  edition  is  in  black  letter, 
and  the  distinction  is  made  by  employing  small  Roman  let- 
ters) and  other  printing  notifications  not  being  reduced  to 
system.  In  the  same  book,  in  the  same  chapter,  perhaps  in 
the  same  verse,  of  the  edition  of  1611,  may  be  found  the 
same  expression  differently  printed  in  respect  of  typograph- 
ical character,  when  the  original  required  that  it  should  be 
printed  in  the  same  manner.  This  is  said  to  be  the  case  with 
the  earlier  editions  generally.     In  this  matter,  the  modern 

*  Several  editions  of  the  Douaj-  Bible  have  been  recently  published. 


EARLY    ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  269 

editions,  since  the  days  of  Blayney,  are  far  more  consistent. 
In  1638  an  attempt  was  made  to  render  the  text  consistent 
with  itself  in  regard  to  Italics.  Dr.  Blayney's  further  re- 
vision was  completed  in  1769.  For  many  years  his  was 
considered  the  standard  edition.  But  subsequently,  an  edi- 
tion printed  by  Eyre  and  Strahan  eclipsed  that  of  Dr.  Blay- 
ney. The  Rev.  Thomas  Curtis,  an  English  Baptist  clergy- 
man, who  has  devoted  much  attention  to  this  subject,  has 
found  a  great  number  of  errors  in  the  edition  of  Eyre  and 
Strahan.  We  are  happy  to  learn  that  a  critical  investiga- 
tion of  this  subject  has  been  commenced  in  this  country,  in 
the  right  quarter.  Two  first-rate  proof-readers  are  compar- 
ing the  first  edition  of  James  with  the  one  now  in  common 
use.  Not  regarding  the  difference  of  orthography,  they  note, 
first,  the  omission  of  capitals  ;  second,  difference  in  punc- 
tuation, particularly  of  commas  ;  third,  a  difference  in  Italic 
words.  The  changes  in  all  the  above  respects  are  found  to 
be  numerous,  and  yet  they  do  not  materially  affect  the  sense.* 
We  subjoin  a  specimen  of  various  translations  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

1.  Pure  Anglo-Saxon,  written  Translation, 

about  A.  D.  690. 

Faeder  ure  }>u  pe  eart  on  heo-  Father  our  thou  who   art  in 

venum  heaven. 

Si  Jjin  nama  gehalgod,  Be  thy  name  hallowed. 

To  —  becume  pin  rice  Come  thy  kingdom, 

Gewurde  Jjin  willa  on  eorwan  Be  done  thy  will  in  earth  so 

swa  swa,  on  heovenum,  as  in  heaven, 

*  Had  Professor  Edwards  rewritten  this  Essay  within  the  last  two 
years,  he  would  have  added  several  facts  to  this  paragraph,  and  also  to 
the  paragraph  on  pp.  272,  273.' 
23* 


270 


EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 


Urne  daeghramllcan  hlar  syle 

us  do  daew, 
And  forwyf  us  ure  wyldas 
Swa  svva  we  forvvifaS  urum 

gyldendum, 
And  ne  gelaedde  J>u  us   on 

cordnunge, 
Ac  alys  us  of  yhele. 
Soplice. 

2.  About  A.  D.  1180. 

Fader  ure  thu  ert  in  heune, 
Blessed  be  thi  name, 
Cume  thi  rixlenge 
Jjurthe  thi  J)il  on  eorthe  spo  it 

is  on  heune, 
Gif  us  to-day  ure  daigpam- 

licle  bread. 
And  forgive  us  ure  gultes  sJ)o 

])e   den  hem  here   the  us 

agult, 
Habbeth  shild  us  from  elehe 

prince  of  helle, 
Aeles  us  of  alle  iuele, 
Amen.     Spo  it  purthe. 

4.   WicKf^s  Translation,  A.  D. 
1380. 

Our  Fadir  that  art  in  hevenys 
Halewid  be  thi  name 
Thi  kyngdom  come  to, 
Be  thi  wil  done  in  erthe  as  in 
hevene. 


Our  daily  loaf  sell  us  to  day, 

And  forgive  us  our  guith 
So  as  we  forgive  our  debtors, 

And    not   lead   thou  us  into 

costening, 
But  release  us  from  evil. 
Soothly  (truly). 

3.  About  A.  D.  1250. 

Fadir  ur  that  es  in  hevene, 
Halud  be  thy  nam  to  revere  ; 
Thou  do  us  thi  rich  rike. 
Thy  will  on  erd  be  wrought 

elk, 
Als  it  es  wrought  in  heven  ay ; 
Er  ilk  day  brede  give  us  to 

day: 
Forgive  thou  all  us  dettes  urs 
Als  we  forgive  till  ur  detturs  ; 
And  ledde  us  in  na  fanding. 
But  sculd  us  fra  ivel  thing. 


5.    TindaVs,  1526. 

Our  Father  which  art   in 

heaven, 
Halowed  by  thy  name. 
Let  thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  fulfilled  as  well 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 


271 


Give  to  us  this  day  cure  breed 
ovir  othir  substaunce, 

And  forgive  to  us  our  dettis  as 
we  forgiven  to  oure  dettoris ; 

And  lede  us  not  into  tempta- 
cioun ; 

But  delyvere  us  from  yvel, 
Amen. 


6.  Mattheiu's,  1537. 

O  oure  Father  which  arte  in 
heven, 

Halowed  be  thy  name. 

Let  thy  kingdome  come. 

Thy  will  be  fulfilled  as  well 
in  erth  as  it  is  in  heven. 

Geve  us  this  daye  oure  dayly 
bred, 

And  forgeve  us  our  trespass- 
es even  as  we  forgeve  our 
trespascers. 

And  lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
cion, 

But  delyver  us  from  evyll. 
Amen. 


8.  Geneva,  1556. 
Our  Father  which  art  in  heav- 
en. 


in  earth  as  it  is  heven. 
Geve  us  this  day  ur  dayly 

bred, 
And  forgive  us  oure  dettes 

as  we  forgive  ur  detters. 
And  leade  us  not  into  temp- 
tation, 
But  delyver  us  from  evyll 
For  thyne  is  the  kyngdome 

and  tlie  glorye  forever, 
Amen. 
7.    Cranmer''s,  1541. 
Our  Father  whych   arte   in 

heaven, 
Halowed  be  thy  name. 
Let  thy  kyngdome  come. 
Thy  wyll  be  fulfylled  as  wel 

in  earth  as  it  is  heaven. 
Geve  us  thys  daye  our  dayly 

breade, 
And  forgeve  us  oure  dettes 

as  we  forgeve  oure  detters. 
And  leade  us  not  into  temp- 

tacion. 
But  delyver  us  from  evel. 
For  thyne  is  the  kyngdome 

and  the  power  and  the  glo- 
rye 
For  ever.     Amen. 

Authorized   Version. 
Our    Father   which    art    in 

heaven, 


272 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 


Holowed  be  thy  name. 

Thy  kingdome  come 

Thy  will   be  done   even  in 

earth  as  it  is  in  heaven 
Give  us  this  day  our  dayly 

bread 
And  forgive  us  our  debts  as 

wee  also  forgive  our  debtors. 
And  lead  us  not  into  temta- 

tion 
But  deliver  us  from  evil, 
For  thine  is  the  kingdome  and 

the  power  and  the  glory 
For  ever,  Amen. 


Hallowed  be  thy  name. 

Thy  kingdom  come. 

Thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as 
it  is  in  heaven. 

Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread. 

And  forgive  us  our  debts  as 
we  forgive  our  debtors. 

And  lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation, but  deliver  us  from 
evil : 

For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and 
the  power,  and  the  glory, 

For  ever,  Amen. 


The  public  libraries  in  the  United  States  ai*e  very  defi- 
cient in  specimens  of  the  early  English  versions.  The 
library  at  Cambi'idge  has  the  Bible  Annotations  of  1645, 
folio,  without  the  text ;  Cranmer's  Bible,  folio  of  1539  and 
quarto  of  1541 ;  Barker's,  1578,  folio;  Geneva,  1584,  and 
1608,  both  quarto ;  Wiclif's  New  Testament,  Lewis's  edi- 
tion; New  Testament  Englished  from  Beza,  by  L.  Thomp- 
son, quarto,  1583  ;  and  Fulke's  New  Testament,  1633.  The 
Boston  Athenseum  has  an  edition  of  the  Bible,  folio,  1578 ; 
Barker's  quarto,  1589;  Coverdale's  quarto,  1599;  octavo, 
1624  ;  quarto,  1630.  The  library  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society  contains  no  copy,  unless  it  be  a  fragment. 
The  library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  we  have 
understood,  has  several  specimens.  In  the  library  of  the 
Andover  Theological  Seminary  are  Barkei''s  folio,  1578, 
Geneva  black  letter,  and  the  same  in  quarto,  1579.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Jenks  of  Boston  has  a  black  letter  quarto  volume. 


EARLY   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  273 

containing  "  the  thyrde  parte  of  the  Bible,"  from  Psahns 
to  Malachi,  a  good  edition,  without  date,  but  supposed  to 
be  Cranmer's  Bible  ;  also  a  thin  quarto  volume,  containing 
a  fragment  of  the  same,  supposed  to  be  of  the  year  1541, 
beginning  with  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  1  Kings,  and 
ending  with  Job,  including,  under  the  titles  of  1  and  2  Es- 
dras,  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  ;  and  a  copy  of  the 
Geneva  version  of  the  whole  Bible,  octavo,  printed  at 
Geneva,  by  John  Crespin,  1568,  a  beautiful  copy,  includ- 
ing the  Apocrypha. 

At  the  close  of  this  article,  we  are  happy  to  present  the 
following  communication  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Ho- 
mer, of  Newton,  Mass.,  a  gentleman  who  has  given  a  long 
and  indefatigable  attention  to  this  subject,  and  who  is  more 
intimately  acquainted  with  it  than  any  other  individual  in 
the  country. 

"  I  am  now  engaged,"  says  Dr.  Homer,  "  in  writing  out 
for  the  press  a  History  of  the  English  Bible  Translations 
between  the  time  of  Wiclif,  1380,  and  Tindal,  1526,  and 
that  of  our  authorized  version  of  1611,  in  the  reign  of 
James  I.  It  has  grown  out  of  an  attempt,  commenced  in 
1824,  to  correct  the  errors  of  the  English  text  and  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  original  text,  where  there  was  a  very  gen- 
eral agreement  of  the  learned,  especially  among  those  re- 
puted orthodox,  who  enjoyed  the  esteem  of  our  New  Eng- 
land fathers,  and  of  others,  who  were  eminent  men  in  the 
last  century.  Having  previously  ascertained  some  particu- 
lars of  the  history  of  the  present  translation,  especially  as 
connected  with  the  translation,  published  complete  in  1560, 
of  the  English  exiles  at  Geneva  in  the  reign  of  Mary  ;  and 
having  read,  too,  of  the  high  estimation  of  that  translation  by 
the  Puritans  up  to  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  New  England, 


274  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

a  period  of  sixty  or  seventy  years,  I  became  solicitous  to 
collate  its  text  with  that  of  James's  version,  and  of  the  He- 
brew and  Greek  originals.  By  the  kind  and  diligent  search 
of  a  friend  and  companion  of  my  early  years  (between  1766 
and  1773), 'Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  I  obtained,  in  1824,  a 
complete  copy,  folio,  containing  text,  explanatory  notes, 
plates,  and  maps.  I  soon  found,  that  this  Bible  was  wholly 
free  from  those  errors  of  translation,  which  had  been  alleged 
by  the  Puritans  (at  Hampton  Court  Conference,  1603,  be- 
fore James)  to  exist  in  the  Bishops'  Bible,  —  a  Bible  in  use 
by  the  Established  Church  for  nearly  forty  years.  It  had 
been  gotten  up  (as  the  Germans  speak)  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth as  an  opposition  Bible  to  the  English  Geneva  version 
of  1560.*  On  further  examination  of  the  Geneva  Bible,  it 
appeared  that  many  of  the  obsolete  words,  and  errors  in 
grammar  and  syntax,  found  in  James's  version,  are  not  in 
the  Geneva.  By  a  continued  collation  of  the  two  Bibles,  in 
both  Testaments,  and  each  further  compared  with  the  orig- 
inals, by  the  aid  of  the  best  lexicons,  foreign  versions,  and 
English  and  foreign  comments,  the  Geneva  Bible,  though 
sometimes  improved  in  the  last  translation,  by  the  aid  of 
Tremellius,  and  Junius,  and  Beza,  the  French  Geneva,  etc., 
yet  contained  many  preferable  translations.  These  served 
to  justify  the  remark  of  the  late  learned  Catholic,  Dr.  M. 
Geddes,  and  apparently  approved  by  Archbishop  Newcome, 
who  hesitated  not  to  declare,  that  he  thinks  it,  in  general., 
better  than  King  James's  translation.  I  then  proceeded, 
being  favored  with  the  Bishops'  Bible  by  my  esteemed 
friend.  Rev.  S.  Sewall,  of  Burlington,  Mass.,  to  collate  the 
common  version  with   it.     This   Bible  was  the  prescribed 

*  See  A.  rfeiffer's  Critica  Sacra,  II.  p.  791. 


EAKLY    ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  275 

standard  of  King  James's  Bible,  according  to  the  first 
rule  given  by  James  to  his  translators.  The  ordinary  Bible 
read  in  the  church,  commonly  called  the  Bishops'  Bible, 
is  to  he  followed,  and  as  little  altered  as  the  origi- 
nal will  permit.  This  rule,  in  addition  to  another,  — 
'  That  signification  of  a  word  in  the  original  which  was 
commonly  used  by  the  ancient  fathers,  and  is  agreeable 
to  the  analogy  of  faith  ' ;  and  the  ordinance  obtained  through 
Archbishop  Bancroft's  influence,  '  not  to  append  notes  of 
any  kind'  to  their  translation,  —  must  obviously  have  in- 
fringed on  the  private  judgment  of  their  most  critical  men, 
who  would  desire  to  justify  a  variation  by  a  note.  These, 
Dr.  Gell,  chaplain  to  Archbishop  Abbot,  one  of  the  transla- 
tors, describes  as  attempting  in  vain  a  more  perfect  critical 
version.  James's  Bible  was  found  to  contain,  in  its  New 
Testament,  by  numbering  the  words,  eighty-nine  ninetieths 
of  the  translation  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  of  the  Geneva  Bi- 
ble, and  other  English  versions,  repetitions  and  synonymous 
words  excepted  ;  embracing  a  little  more  than  two  thousand 
new  words.  In  collating  the  Old  Testament,  it  appeared, 
that,  particularly  from  the  book  of  Job  to  the  end  of  Malachi, 
they  had  more  frequently  departed  from  their  standard,  and 
conformed  their  version  more  to  the  English  Geneva.  In  an 
examination  of  all  the  books  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  it  appeared 
to  contain  several  texts  better  rendered  than  James's,  and  to 
omit  sundry  ands,  nows,  alsos,  it  came  to  pass,  etc.,  which, 
unlike  the  ancient  English  Bibles,  spread  themselves  with 
such  frequency,  without  aid  to  an  English  ear,  over  the 
authorized  version. 

"  I  then,  proceeding  in  my  search  of  old  English  versions, 
found  a  New  Testament  of  Edward  the  Sixth's  time,  large 
quarto,  with  notes,  A.  D.  1552,  which  I  collated  throughout. 


276  EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

I  found  about  the  same  time  a  Coverdale's  Tindal,  appar- 
ently of  1551,  or  possibly  of  1561.  This  is  probably  a 
reprint,  with  further  variations,  throughout  all  the  books, 
derived  from  Luther's  German  Bible,  etc.,  of  Tindal's  last 
and  best  Testament,  1536,  published  by  Coverdale,  after 
Tindal's  martyr-death  in  Flanders. 

"  In  my  further  search,  Divine  Providence  aided  my 
object  by  the  Matthew's  Bible,  1537,  folio,  in  old  English 
text,  deficient,  by  some  accident,  m  the  text,  etc.,  after  the 
sixteenth  chapter  of  Luke.  This  was  obtained  for  free  and 
critical  use,  by  the  immediate  and  kind  agency  of  a  son  of 
my  lately  esteemed  friend,  the  deceased  and  lamented  Thom- 
as P.  Ives,  Esq.,  of  Providence,  from  the  library  of  Brown 
University.  This  translation  was  soon  found  by  me  to  be 
the  exceedingly  rare  Bible  of  1537,  being  the  revision  of  the 
translations  of  William  Tindal,  1530  and  1532,  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  perhaps  to  Nehemiah,  and  of  the  prophet  Jonah, 
and  of  his  New  Testaments  of  1526  and  1534.  It  contained 
also  a  revision  of  the  translation  of  Miles  Coverdale  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation,  of  1535,  by  John  Rogers,  the  learned 
and  holy  martyr  in  Mary's  reign.  This  was  completed 
about  the  close  of  1537.  This  translation  was  executed  at 
Wittemberg,  near  the  person  of  Luther,  and  the  learned 
professors  of  the  University,  and  near  the  rich  collection  of 
books  of  its  library.  These,  Rogers,  under  the  book-name 
of  Thomas  Matthew,  appears  freely  and  advantageously  to 
have  used.  With  these  I  obtained  also,  by  the  hand  of  my 
early  friend  and  Boston  grammar  school  mate,  Thomas 
Walcut,  Esq.,  the  Cranmer  Bible,  quarto,  as  overseen  by 
Tonstal  and  Heath,  Roman  Catholic  bishops,  published  in 
November,  1541.  I  have  also  enjoyed  the  free  and  repeated 
use  of  the  Great  Bible,  called  Cranmer's,  being  the  first 


EARLY    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE.  277 

published,  in  1539,  after  the  preceding  Bibles  and  New 
Testaments  had  been  put  down  by  the  authority  of  Henry 
VIII.  This  is  in  the  library  of  Harvard  University.  These 
two  Bibles,  differing  little  from  each  other,  I  have  also 
collated  in  all  their  parts,  and  traced  them  successfully  to 
their  sources,  other  than  the  original.  So  I  affirm  of  King 
James's  Bible,  Tins  is  in  no  part  a  new  translation  taken 
directly  from  the  originals*  Those  parts  of  King  James's 
Bible,  which  were  drawn  from  Luther,  were  not  taken  by 
them  from  the  German  Bible,  but  by  the  early  translators, 
from  whom  they  borrowed  the  English  version.  This  I 
have  everywhere  traced  to  the  English,  French,  Latin,  or 
German  versions,  which  preceded  it.  This  circumstance 
I  found  proved  by  a  full  exploring  of  the  New  Testament 
in  1828.  It  has  been  since  confirmed  in  every  book  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  will  be  further  confirmed  to  any  one 
by  the  reading  of  the  Preface  of  the  last  translators,  con- 
tained in  Dr.  Coit's  valuable  duodecimo  Bible,  just  published 


*  In  a  note  which  Dr.  Homer  published  in  the  Biblical  Repository, 
July,  1836,  he  adds :  "The  stationers,  not  the  translators,  styled  the 
Bible  '  a  new  translation,'  and  announced  it  as  '  newly  translated  out 
of  the  original  tongues.'  The  translators  testify  in  their  Preface  (the 
work  of  Bishop  Smith,  a  translator  and  reviser),  that  their  own  revision 
'  is  in  no  part  a  new  translation.'  '  We  never  thought,'  say  they,  '  that 
we  should  need  to  make  a  neiu  translation,  but  to  make  a  good  one  [their 
prescribed  standard  was  the  Bishops',  or  Archbishop  Parker's,  Bible 
of  1568J  better;  or  out  of  many  good  ones,  one  principal  good  one." 
"  This  fact  is  further  confirmed  by  Dr.  Gell,  probably  from  the  infor- 
mation of  the  wise  and  good  Archbishop  Abbot,  one  of  the  translators, 
whose  chaplain  he  had  been.  Dr.  Gell's  words  are  as  follows :  '  Where 
a  part  of  the  learned  body  suggested  certain  corrections  and  improve- 
ments in  the  translation,  they  were  checked,  and  told  that  their  pro- 
posed course  would  go  to  a  new  translation,  which  was  never  intended.'" 
VOL.   II.  24 


278  EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

by  Manson  and  Grant.  I  possess  also  an  ancient  varying 
translation  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  I  possess  also 
Tindal's  text  of  his  first  and  exceedingly  rare  Testament  of 
1526,  in  the  text  of  Matthew  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  chap- 
ters, and  in  the  five  chapters  of  John's  First  Epistle,  with 
rich  informing  notes  and  observations  upon  each  chapter 
and  verse,  except  1  John  v.  7.  This  Tindal,  Coverdale,  and 
Rogers  supposed  not  contained  in  any  known  ancient  Greek 
manuscript,  and  only  supported  by  Latin  and  Roman  Cath- 
olic authority.  I  possess,  too,  several  parts  of  Tindal's 
earliest  translation,  1526,  contained  in  his  published  works, 
quoting  Scripture  passages.  I  have  free  access  to  a  work 
containing  the  principal  passages  contained  in  Coverdale's 
Bible  of  1535,  wherein  it  agrees  or  disagrees,  in  its  text, 
with  the  Thomas  Matthew's  Bible  of  1537,  the  Cranmer 
Bible  of  1539,  the  Geneva  of  1560,  the  Bishops'  of  1568, 
and  the  Common  Version  of  1611.  Also,  I  have  before 
me  variations  and  corrections  of  the  old  text  by  Becke  and 
other  learned  men,  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  Vlll.  and  Ed- 
ward VI. 

"  With  an  exception  of  one  memorable  year  of  extraor- 
dinary attention  to  personal  religion,  in  1826  and  1827, 
among  the  beloved  flock  which  I  had  served  since  1782, 1 
have  employed  myself,  for  a  portion  of  eleven  years,  in 
collating  and  comparing  all  of  these  Bibles  and  Testa- 
ments with  each  other,  with  the  originals,  with  the  principal 
versions  and  comments  and  lexicographers  of  the  last  three 
centuries,  to  the  present  date.  I  have  compared  them  also 
with  the  notes  which  I  began  to  collect  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen from  the  books  of  Harvard  College  library,  and  which 
have  been  accumulating  for  fifty-eight  years,  following  my 
collegiate  course.     Prompted  by  the  conscientious  religious 


•  EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF   THE    BIBLE.  279 

motive  of  the  venerated,  learned,  and  indefatigable  Ger- 
man, Bengel  (obiit  1752),  for  about  forty  years  I  have  paid 
critical  attention  to  various  readings  in  both  Testaments,  of 
Hebrew  and  Greek  text  and  of  ancient  respected  versions, 
and  have  examined  the  authorities  for  and  against  them,  in- 
dividually. I  have  endeavored,  particularly,  to  mark  those 
in  which  the  old  English  versions  and  the  orthodox,  or 
those  of  James's  creed  among  the  learned,  are  agreed,  with 
few  or  no  exceptions.  I  have  found,  as  the  result,  that  the 
Cranmer  Bible,  the  Bishops'  Bible,  and  the  King  James's 
Bible  were  not  independently  rendered.  Cranmer's  was 
published  under  the  dread  of  the  frown  and  rejection  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  his  clergy.  Cranmer  was  dissatisfied  with 
it,  and  sent  for  three  eminent  critics  from  Germany,  on 
Edward's  ascent  to  the  throne,  to  effect  a  new  translation. 
This  was  frustrated  by  the  early  death  of  the  two  princi- 
pals, Bucer  and  Fagius.  Further,  the  Bishops'  was  but  a 
slight  variation  from  Cranmer,  and  the  French  and  English 
Geneva.  King  James's  Bible  was  under  the  control  of  the 
very  arbitrary  James  and  his  primate,  men  of  strong  preju- 
dice and  of  no  Hebrew,  if  any  Greek,  learning,  —  rhere 
Latin  scholars.  It  is  throughout  a  version  drawn  from 
other  versions  and  comments,  not  exceeding  twenty.  It 
was  carried  on  with  the  felt  early  loss  of  their  two  greatest 
scholars,  —  Hebrew  Professor  Lively,  and  the  President, 
Dr.  Reynolds. 

"  Each  translation  has  its  special  good  renderijigs,  corre- 
sponding with  the  best  modern  critics.  The  Bible  of  1537 
best  agrees  with  Gesenius,  Stuart,  and  the  richest  portions  of 
Rosenmueller.  It  was  executed  by  the  first  three  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  English  scholars,  and  thorough  Germans,  ever 
known  among  the  several  translators.     The  New  Testa- 


280  EARLY   ENGLISH   VERSIONS    OF   THE    BIBLE.  • 

ment  of  Rogers's  Bible,  1537,  and  Coverdale's  Tindal  of 
1551,  and  Tindal's  first  Testament  of  1526,  are  in  English 
idiom,  and  they  are  executed  most  in  conformity  with  the 
latest  and  best  Biblical  critics.  From  the  whole,  with  the 
consulted  aid  of  more  than  two  hundred  critical  works,  in- 
cluding the  sources  of  each  translation,  I  have  long  been 
seeking  to  improve  the  text  of  the  common  version." 


AUTHENTICITY  AND   GENUINENESS  OF  THE 
PENTATEUCH.* 


It  is  certainly  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  introduce  to  the 
American  public,  indiscriminately,  the  sceptical  opinions 
on  morals  and  religion  which  prevail  in  Europe.  Some  of 
these  opinions  will  soon  perish  on  the  soil  that  gave  them 
birth.  Before  they  can  be  confuted,  they  will  cease  to 
exist.t  Other  opinions  are  so  interwoven  with  habits  of 
thinking  peculiar  to  the  people  of  Continental  Europe  ;  they 
are  the  product  of  a  state  of  society,  philosophical  and 
religious,  so  unlike  our  own ;  that  the  attempt  on  our  part 
to  controvert,  or  even  to  apprehend  them,  would  be  a  fruit- 
less labor. 

But  some  of  the  opinions  referred  to  are  not  indigenous 
in  France  or  Germany  only.  They  are  by  no  means  ex- 
otics in  English  or  American  soil.  Indeed,  not  a  few  of 
the  most  destructive  theories  that  prevail  in  Germany  were 

*  This  Essay  was  originally  published  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra, 
Vol.  II.  pp.  356  -398,  668-682.  It  contains  the  substance  of  several 
Lectures  delivered  before  the  Junior  Class  of  Andover  Theological 
Seminary. 

t  F.  A.  Wolf  is  said  to  have  remarked,  that  "  what  comes  forward 
in  Germany  with  eclat,  may  be  expected,  for  the  most  part,  to  end, 
after  some  ten  years,  shabbily." 
24* 


282  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

transplanted  from  England.  The  German  sceptic  is  the 
lineal  descendant  of  men  who  once  figured  in  English  liter- 
ature. Doubts  or  disbelief  in  respect  to  the  doctrines  of 
revelation,  which  exist  among  us,  are  the  spontaneous 
growth  of  our  own  institutions  and  habits  of  thought,  and 
have  been  only  reinforced  from  abroad.  It  has  been  ob- 
vious, for  a  number  of  years,  that  there  has  been  an  increas- 
ing tendency  in  certain  quarters  to  question  or  reject  the 
divine  authority  of  the  Old  Testament.  This  has  been 
manifest  in  the  case  of  some  individuals,  who  have  no 
special  regard  for  German  literature,  or  who  may  have 
even  a  positive  antipathy  to  it.  The  origin  of  their  doubts 
is  either  within  themselves,  or  it  must  be  ascribed  to  habits 
of  thinking  and  acting  peculiar  to  Americans.  Foreign 
scepticism  is  not  specially  in  fault. 

While  the  Old  Testament  generally  is  assailed,  the  Pen- 
tateuch is  made  the  subject  of  special  attack.  Moses,  it  is 
alleged,  is  the  least  trustworthy  of  the  Jewish  historians,  or 
rather,  the  genuineness  of  the  Pentateuch  is  denied  alto- 
gether, and  its  authorship  unceremoniously  thrust  down  to 
the  Babylonish  captivity,  or  still  later.  Many  of  the  miracu- 
lous events  which  it  describes  are  regarded  as  no  better 
than  Rabbinic  fables  or  Grecian  myths. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  inquire,  briefly,  into  some  of  the 
grounds  of  this  prevalent  scepticism.  Why  are  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  and  the  five  books  of  Moses  particularly,  subject- 
ed to  these  fresh  assaults  ?  Some  causes  may  exist  which 
have  hitherto  been  unknown,  or  comparatively  inoperative. 

A  prominent  ground  of  this  sceptical  tendency  is  the  in- 
judicious or  incorrect  method  which  has  been  pursued  by  not 
a  few  orthodox  interpreters  of  the  Old  Testament.  They 
have  never  distinctly  seen  the  relations  which  exist  between 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  283 

the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  They  do  not,  practically 
at  least,  recognize  the  great  truth,  that  God  has  communi- 
cated his  revelations  gradually.  They  have  looked  for  the 
meridian  sun  in  the  faint  light  of  the  morning.  They  seem 
never  to  have  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  declarations,  that 
Christ  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light,  and  that  the 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  the  illustri- 
ous forerunner  of  our  Lord.  In  their  view,  the  patriarchs 
did  not  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  enjoyed  almost  the 
perfect  vision  of  the  Apostles.  A  system  of  types,  extend- 
ing to  minute  particulars,  and  to  bad  men  as  well  as  to 
good,  has  been  forced  into  the  interpretation  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, to  the  detriment  of  all  sound  philology,  and  often 
of  common  sense.  Men  of  eminent  learning,  in  our  own 
days,  have  found  in  the  Mosaic  ritual  all  varieties  of  alle- 
gory and  hidden  sense,  so  that,  almost  literally,  every  cord 
has  cried  out  of  the  tabernacle,  and  every  pin  from  its 
timber  has  answered.  In  the  predictions  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, a  speciality,  or  a  minute  historical  reference,  has  been 
discovered,  alike  at  variance  with  the  nature  of  prophecy 
and  the  actual  events  of  histoiy.  In  such  circumstances, 
reasonable  men  might  naturally  be  deterred,  not  only  from 
adopting  such  a  method  of  interpretation,  but  from  placing 
much  confidence  in  the  inspired  records  themselves.  They 
insensibly  learn  to  question  the  authenticity  of  a  document 
which  is  susceptible  of  a  hundred  warring  interpretations. 
Wearied  with  the  incongruities  or  absurdities  of  the  annota- 
tor,  they  have  become  distrustful  of  that  on  which  he  has 
wasted  his  pains. 

Another  source  of  the  scepticism  in  question  is  the  sup- 
posed incompatibility  of  some  of  the  discoveries  of  modern 
learning  with  the  records  of  the  Pentateuch.     The  students 


284  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

of  natural  science  confidently  affirm  the  indefinite  antiquity 
'  of  our  globe,  and  describe  the  wonderful  operations  which 
were  going  on  in  its  bosom  ages  before  man  was  formed 
upon  its  surface.  Some  of  these  investigators,  it  must  be 
confessed,  proceed  as  independently  as  if  the  Mosaic  rec- 
ords did  not  exist ;  or  if  these  ancient  documents  should 
chance  to  cross  their  track,  they  brush  them  aside  with  as 
little  ceremony  as  they  would  the  cosmogony  of  Ovid,  or 
the  theory  of  Burnet.  On  the  other  hand,  some  theologians 
have  been  unduly  sensitive  in  respect  to  these  conclusions  of 
geology,  not  remembering  that  revelation  and  true  science 
will  never  be  found,  ultimately,  at  variance,  and  that  the 
period  of  their  apparent  discrepancy  is  generally  short. 
But  instead  of  waiting  for  time  to  unfold  the  mystery,  they 
have  denied  or  denounced,  in  their  zeal  for  revelation,  the 
unquestionable  facts  of  science.  In  these  circumstances,  a 
third  party  interpose  and  cut  the  knot  which  they  cannot 
untie.  They  discern  no  difficulty  in  the  case,  for  the  book 
of  Genesis  is  a  common  history,  a  mixture  of  things  credi- 
ble and  incredible,  or  it  is  a  highly  seasoned  poetical  com- 
position. If  a  discovery  of  science  conflicts  with  a  state- 
ment of  Moses,  then  the  latter  is  set  aside  as  having  no 
more  authority  than  an  affirmation  of  Diodorus  or  Livy. 
Thus  these  apparent  conflicts  between  philology  and  natu- 
ral science  are  inconsiderately  made  the  ground  of  denying 
the  credibility  of  the  written  history. 

Another  cause,  which  may  be  mentioned,  is  the  contra- 
dictory views  which  have  been  entertained  in  respect  to 
certain  usages  tolerated  or  regulated  in  the  Pentateuch,  but 
which  a  more  spiritual  dispensation  has  been  supposed  to 
abolish.  In  relation  to  these  usages,  opinions  diametrically 
opposite  have  been  defended.     According  to  one  party,  the 


OF    THE   PENTATEUCH.  285 

customs  referred  to  have  the  immediate  Divine  sanction. 
They  are  not  simply  the  growth  of  an  early  state  of  society, 
or  of  Oriental  institutions,  but  they  meet  necessities  which 
are  common  to  man.  They  are  essential  to,  or  at  least  are 
admissible  in,  the  most  perfect  condition  of  humanity.  An- 
other party,  by  doing  violence  to  the  language  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, virtually  deny  the  existence  of  these  customs,  or  en- 
deavor to  rid  them  of  their  most  essential  characteristics. 
Affirming  that  certain  usages  of  modern  times  are  in  their 
own  nature  and  always  wrong,  they  wrest  the  plainest  texts 
of  the  Pentateuch  from  their  obvious  sense,  in  order  to  free 
the  inspired  word  from  the  calumny  of  their  opponents. 
Others,  in  the  mean  time,  look  with  equal  contempt  upon 
both  of  these  conflicting  opinions.  Their  scepticism  is  only 
augmented  by  this  radical  diversity  of  ideas  in  those  who 
believe  in  the  divine  authority  of  the  Pentateuch.  They 
regard  the  custom  which  has  been  proscribed  or  eulogized, 
as  merely  an  evidence  of  a  very  barbarous  state  of  so- 
ciety, and  the  regulations  of  the  lawgiver  respecting  it,  as 
well  as  the  record  of  the  historian,  as  unauthoritative  and 
uninspired.  And  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  nothing 
could  be  better  fitted  to  cherish  an  unbelieving  spirit  than 
the  extreme  opinions  that  have  been  alluded  to.  Reason- 
able men  may  well  hesitate  to  receive  a  revelation  to  which 
its  friends  apply  the  most  hostile  modes  of  interpretation. 
In  fact  every  text  distorted,  every  interpretation  far-fetched 
or  unnatural,  does  something  towards  subverting  the  author- 
ity of  the  entire  Scriptures,  as  it  becomes  a  source  of  doubt 
and  incredulity  which  extends  far  beyond  itself. 

The  superficial  philanthropy  and  religion,  which  find  not 
a  little  currency  in  our  land,  are  an  additional  cause  of  the 
scepticism  in  question.     The  special  design  of  the   New 


286     •  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

Testament,  it  is  alleged,  is  to  reveal,  or  render  more  im- 
pressive, the  doctrines  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and 
the  paternal  character  of  God.  An  unavoidable  inference 
from  such  an  allegation  is,  that  the  Deity  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  different  from,  or  hostile  to,  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  Mosaic  Divinity  is  a  stern  ty- 
rant, or  an  inflexible  judge,  not  a  Being  of  overflowing  be- 
nignity. The  theophany  on  Sinai  is  the  fiction  of  Oriental 
fancy,  portraying  the  avatar  of  some  malignant  demon. 
A  view  of  the  Divine  character  extensively  prevails  at  the 
present  day,  which  is  adverse  to  the  entire  spirit  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  which  virtually  leads  to  the  denial  of  the 
most  explicit  declarations  made  by  the  Saviour  himself. 
Religion  is  divested  of  its  commanding  features,  and  is 
made  to  meet  the  necessities  of  a  part  of  our  constitution 
only.  The  susceptibilities  of  fear,  and  of  reverence  for 
law  and  authority,  though  as  much  original  properties  of 
man  as  pity  or  any  other  power  that  has  been  most  abun- 
dantly appealed  to,  are  degraded  and  cast  out  as  worthless. 
These  superficial  views  of  religion  naturally  lead  to  a 
superficial  philanthropy.  The  tenderest  compassion  is  felt 
for  the  criminal,  or  rather  for  the  unfortunate  individual 
overtaken  in  a  fault,  while  few  tears  are  shed  for  injured 
virtue,  or  for  society  menaced  with  dissolution.  A  sacred- 
ness  is  attributed  to  human  life,  which  has  no  warrant  either 
in  the  New  Testament  or  the  judgment  of  a  pure-minded 
philanthropist,  and  which  would  annihilate  the  right  or  pos- 
sibility of  national  or  individual  self-defence.  The  refor- 
mation of  the  delinquent,  it  is  confidently  alleged,  is  the  only, 
or  the  principal,  object  of  human  laws.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  the  Pentateuch  especially,  standing  as  obstacles 
in  the   path  of  these   charitable  sentiments,  must   be   set 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  287 

aside.  Though  the  representation,  that  the  books  of  Moses 
breathe  an  implacable  spirit,  is  altogether  unfounded,  yet 
thei-e  is  much  in  them  of  a  rigorous  character,  and  which 
would  be  repugnant  to  the  opinions  and  feelings  to  which 
we  have  alluded.  It  is  unquestionable,  that  there  is  a 
strong  tendency  at  present  towards  an  indiscriminate  phi- 
lanthropy, and  a  religion  divested  of  those  stern  features 
which  the  representations  of  the  New  Testament  imply,  as 
certainly  as  those  of  the  Old.  Now  just  so  far  as  this  ten- 
dency prevails,  an  influence  adverse  to  the  authority  of  the 
Pentateuch  is  brought  into  active  existence.  The  question 
is  judged  subjectively,  in  accordance  with  the  feelings  and 
opinions  of  the  objector.  A  fair  estimate  is  not  of  course 
to  be  anticipated.  Yet  no  topic  in  the  whole  compass  of 
literature  demands  greater  freedom  from  theological  pre- 
possession, than  one  pertaining  to  the  infancy  of  our  race 
(fifteen  centuries  before  the  Gospel  was  published),  to  an 
Oriental  state  of  society,  and  to  a  pastoral  mode  of  life. 
What  might  seem  perfectly  unreasonable  and  distasteful  to 
us,  might  be  most  befitting  to  the  incipient  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth, and  might,  therefore,  have  come  from  God. 

Again,  some  of  the  causes  of  this  scepticism  have  multi- 
plied themselves.  The  tendency  to  doubt  has  been  greatly 
strengthened  by  exercise.  The  rejection  of  all  supernatu- 
ral agency  from  the  Mosaic  narratives  is  an  effect  as  well 
as  a  cause.  Parts  of  the  Christian  records  had  before  been 
violently  impugned.  Doubts  had  been  thrown  upon  the  au- 
thenticity of  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. In  opposition  to  the  best  critical  authorities,  suspi- 
cions were  cast  on  various  passages.  If  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Gospel  of  John,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  are  ob- 
noxious to  attack,  a  book  composed  sixteen  hundred  years 


288  AT7THENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

earlier,  and  consequently  supported  by  much  less  external 
testimony,  would  hardly  escape.  If  parts  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament are  seriously  menaced,  the  whole  of  the  Old  would 
seem  to  totter  on  its  foundations. 

For  these  and  other  reasons,  which  might  be  named,  it  is 
proposed  to  discuss  several  topics  that  have  relation  to  the 
authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  Pentateuch.  New  light 
is  constantly  thrown  upon  the  interpretation  of  this  part  of 
the  Bible,  by  the  studies  of  eminent  scholars  and  the  dis- 
coveries of  archaeologists  and  travellers.  A  somewhat  ex- 
tended range  of  observation  and  of  reference  to  authorities 
may  be  allowed,  from  the  bearing  of  such  remarks  and  ref- 
erences on  a  number  of  points  which  may  be  subsequently 
considered. 

What  has  been  already  stated  may  suggest,  not  unnatu- 
rally, the  first  topic  for  consideration. 

I,  The  Importance  of  Caution  in  an  Inquiry  of  this 
Nature. 

Nothing  can  be  more  out  of  place  than  dogmatic  asser- 
tion, or  that  cavalier  tone  which  is  sometimes  assumed. 
The  subject  is  of  such  a  character  as  not  to  admit  of  mathe- 
matical certainty.  After  the  most  laborious  inquiries,  we 
are  necessarily  left  in  ignorance  on  some  points ;  while  on 
others,  we  can  only  approximate  towards  the  truth. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Pentateuch  professes  to  stand  alto- 
gether by  itself.  There  is  no  contemporary  literature. 
Not  a  fragment  of  any  record  besides  has  floated  down  the 
stream  of  time.  The  lapse  of  ages  has  buried  up  every 
other  chronicle.  Centuries  elapsed  after  the  exodus  of 
Israel,  before  Hesiod  or  Homer  wrote.  The  monuments  of 
Egypt  are  silent  on  the  first  twenty  centuries  of  the  histoiy 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  289 

in  Genesis.  We  have  nothing,  therefore,  with  which  to 
compare  the  Pentateuch.  We  are  left  to  judge  of  its  credi- 
bility by  its  own  independent  testimony. 

Again,  a  state  of  civil  and  religious  society,  manners 
and  customs,  useful  arts  and  domestic  institutions,  are  de- 
lineated or  alluded  to,  with  which  we  have  little  analogous. 
The  principles  of  human  nature  are,  indeed,  the  same. 
Man's  heart  beats  alike  under  an  Oriental  or  a  Western  sky. 
But  the  whole  external  contour  is  widely  diverse.  Even 
the  development  of  Asiatic  character  and  morals  often 
seems  to  us  very  anomalous.  We  are  tempted  to  look 
with  perfect  incredulity  on  incidents  or  narratives,  which, 
to  an  Oriental,  have  the  clearest  verisimilitude.  We  often 
set  up  European  taste  as  a  standard  for  Asiatic  manners, 
and  wonder  at  the  oddity  of  patriarchal  usages,  while  an 
Arab  or  a  Syrian  would  look  with  equal  incredulity  or  con- 
tempt upon  many  things  which  have  become  as  a  second 
nature  to  us.  From  this  dissimilarity,  or  contrariety,  of 
manners  and  customs,  the  inquirer  must  needs  be  cautious 
in  coming  to  his  conclusions.  He  may  pronounce  that  to 
be  a  myth  or  a  saga  which  is  veritable  histor}^ 

Furthermore,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the  Pentateuch 
lays  claim  to  Divine  inspiration.  Moses  is  the  organ  of  the 
will  of  God.  The  five  books  profess  to  be  a  record  of  im- 
mediate revelations  from  Heaven.  This  demands  at  least 
an  external  respect,  a  show  of  decency.  Even  portions 
of  the  mythology  of  Greece  and  Rome  cannot  be  contem- 
plated with  levity.  It  is,  in  a  sense,  holy  ground.  If  no 
heavenly  voice  proceeds  from  Delphi,  yet  there  is  a  strug- 
gling of  the  human  spirit  to  pierce  the  secrets  of  the  future. 
If  there  was  nothing  acceptable  to  the  Deity  in  the  count- 
less sacrifices  which  were  offered  on  Roman  altars,  yet  the 

VOL.  II.  2.^> 


290  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

human  soul  is  here  revealed  in  its  deepest  aspirations.  In 
the  immolation  of  the  innocent  victim  was  prefigured  the 
necessity  of  the  shedding  of  more  costly  blood.  In  these 
misapplied  and  unauthorized  services,  some  vital  doctrines 
of  the  Christian  system  may  be  faintly  shadowed  forth. 
Though  embodying  a  great  amount  of  error,  or  of  perverted 
truth,  yet  one  would  not  approach  this  mythology  with  pro- 
fane sarcasm.  At  all  events,  he  would  subject  it  to  a  care- 
ful and  conscientious  examination. 

So  in  respect  to  the  Mohammedan  Bible.  It  claims  to 
be  a  revelation  from  Heaven.  These  claims  ought  to  be 
candidly  and  fairly  met.  A  system  of  religious  imposture 
is  not  to  be  dismissed  with  a  sneer ;  much  less,  if,  with  its 
absurdities,  it  contains  some  acknowledged  and  fundamen- 
tal truths.  Every  principle  of  literary  justice,  not  to  speak 
of  moral  obligation,  demands  that  we  should  carefully  ex- 
amine, rather  than  dogmatically  decide. 

Yet  how  different  has  been  the  treatment  to  which  the 
Pentateuch  has  often  been  subjected.  It  assumes  to  be  a 
revelation  from  the  true  God,  and  a  history  of  real  events. 
It  appears,  in  the  first  aspect  of  it  at  least,  to  be  plain  prose, 
not  poetry,  nor  fable,  nor  allegory.  Yet  it  has  often  been 
treated  as  though  it  were,  a  priori^  fictitious,  as  though  it 
bore  the  marks  of  falsehood  on  its  face.  A  respectable 
uninspired  author  has  been  seldom  compelled  to  submit  to 
such  manifest  injustice.  Multitudes  of  critics,  not  a  kv/  of 
them  Christian  ministers,  have  regarded  it  as  a  mixture  of 
truth  and  falsehood,  or  as  an  interpolated  document,  and 
have  accordingly  tried  to  sift  out  some  facts  from  the  mass 
of  errors.  Where  patient  investigation  would  be  a  too 
painful  process,  an  innuendo,  a  covert  sneer,  or  a  bold  as- 
sertion, has  been  substituted.     Decisions  have  been   pro- 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  291 

nounced  with  that  categorical  assurance,  which  would  not 
be  respectful  in  relation  to  a  common  historian,  which 
would  not  be  authorized,  were  the  writers  contemporaries 
of  the  men  on  whom  they  sit  in  judgment.  Many  of  those, 
who  have  impugned  the  authority  of  the  Pentateuch,  have 
betrayed  a  state  of  mind,  which  would  not  well  befit  a 
student  even  of  the  Koran  or  Vedas. 

II.     Historical  Scepticism  less  Prevalent  now  than 

FORMERLY. 

It  is  an  important  consideration  in  its  bearings  on  the 
question  under  discussion,  that  the  spirit  of  extreme  literary 
scepticism,  which  prevailed  a  few  years  since,  especially 
in  Germany,  is  giving  place  to  sounder  and  more  conserv- 
ative views.  The  day  of  unlimited  suspicion  in  respect  to 
ancient  authors  has  passed  by.  A  more  enlightened  criti- 
cism has  shown,  that  incredulity  may  involve  as  many  ab- 
surdities as  superstition,  and  that  the  temper  of  mind,  in 
which  such  men  as  Gibbon  looked  at  certain  parts  of  tha 
records  of  antiquity,  was  as  truly  unphilosophical  as  that  of 
the  most  unreflecting  enthusiast. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and  during  the  first 
twenty  years  of  the  present,  several  causes  conspired  to 
give  an  extraordinary  growth  to  this  doubting  spirit.  Some 
of  these  are  still  more  or  less  operative  ;  the  influence  of 
others  has  disappeared.  It  may  be  well  to  advert  to  some 
of  the  more  prominent. 

One  of  these  causes  is  itself  a  consequence  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  condition  of  Germany.  The  number  of 
highly  educated  men  in  the  German  States  is  very  large  in 
proportion  to  the  population,  much  larger  than  the  intellectual 
wants  of  the  countjy  demand.    The  government,  having  in  its 


292  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

hands  nearly  all  the  places  of  trust  and  emolument,  looks, 
of  course,  to  the  abler  and  more  promising  candidates  for 
public  favor.  This  awakens  among  the  thousands  annually 
emerging  from  the  university  life,  a  spirit  of  rivalry  and  a 
strong  desire  for  notoriety.  Attention  must  be  aroused,  a 
name  must  be  created,  at  all  events.  If  the  promulgation 
of  correct  opinions  will  not  effect  the  object,  paradoxes 
may.  While  sound  reasoning  will  fall  heavily  on  the 
public  ear,  ingenious,  though  baseless,  hypotheses  will  be 
certain  to  awaken  discussion.  To  attack  the  credibility 
of  an  ancient  historian,  with  great  confidence,  and  with  a 
profusion  of  learning,  may  procure  an  appointment,  if  it 
does  not  accomplish  its  professed  object.  Thus  the  aim 
often  is  to  make  a  sensation,  rather  than  to  elicit  the  truth ; 
to  show  off  one's  smartness,  more  than  to  comprehend  a 
subject  in  hs  various  bearings  and  worthily  present  it.  A 
prurient  love  of  novelty  and  innovation  is  fostered.  Well- 
ascertained  facts  in  history  will  go  for  nothing,  if  a  doubt 
or  a  suspicion  can  be  started.  The  mind  is  not  suffered  to 
dwell  on  ten  degrees  of  positive  testimony,  if  two  of  a  neg- 
ative character  can  by  any  possibility  be  imagined.  A 
habit  of  scepticism  is  thus  formed,  which  no  amount  of  evi- 
dence can  satisfy.  How  else  can  we  account  for  an  attack 
on  the  credibility  of  such  a  book  as  that  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  or  a  denial  of  the  historical  character  of  the  Gos- 
pels ?  In  these  cases,  the  fault  cannot  be  in  the  historian, 
or  in  the  contemporary  witnesses.  Germany  has  been 
overstocked  with  students.  The  reapers  outnumbered  the 
sheaves  to  be  gathered.  Topics  for  investigation  were 
sought  beyond  the  limit  of  lawful  inquiry,  or  where  the 
only  result  would  be  to  unsettle  all  faith  in  human  testi- 
mony.    From  this  unpractical  character  of  the  German 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  293 

mind,  and  from  the  crowded  condition  of  certain  depart- 
ments of  study,  an  unrestrained  rationalism  was  inevitable. 

Yet  there  is  reason  to  believe,  that  this  unhealthful  state 
of  the  intellectual  German  world  has  been  somewhat  me- 
liorated. The  physical  sciences  and  the  practical  arts  are 
exciting  a  more  earnest  attention.  The  orthodox  theolo- 
gians of  Germany  have  been  compelled,  by  the  pressure  of 
recent  events,  to  place  a  much  higher  value  on  the  historical 
evidences  of  Christianity. 

Another  cause  of  this  scepticism  has  been  a  theory,  quite 
prevalent,  not  only  in  Germany,  but  throughout  Christen- 
dom, which  represents  the  early  state  of  man  as  savage ; 
in  other  words,  man  came  a  child  in  knowledge  from  the 
hands  of  his  Maker,  and  very  gradually,  and  with  great 
painstaking,  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  most  necessary 
arts  of  life.  This  theory  was  the  cause,  in  a  measure,  of 
the  attack  on  the  integrity  of  the  Homeric  poems,  and  of 
the  postponement  to  a  very  late  period  of  the  discovery  of 
alphabetic  writing.  It  has  led  to  a  representation  of  the 
patriarchs  and  early  ancestors  of  the  Hebrews,  which  would 
elevate  them  not  much  above  the  herdsmen  of  the  Arabian 
desert.  Accordingly,  it  were  not  to  be  expected  that  writ- 
ten documents,  credible  historical  records,  should  exist  in 
this  crude  and  forming  state  of  society.  The  declaration  of 
Moses,  that  he  committed  certain  facts  to  writing,  itself  be- 
trays, it  is  said,  an  author  who  lived  as  late  as  David,  or 
the  Babylonish  captivity. 

Yet  profounder  investigations  into  ancient  history  and 
monuments  are  every  year  undermining  this  imposing  and 
wide-spread  hypothesis.  The  arts  in  Egypt,  at  the  re- 
motest point  of  time  to  which  we  can  trace  them,  were  in  a 
style  of  the  highest  perfection.  Some  of  the  sciences  ap- 
25* 


294  AUTHENTICITY   AND    GENUINENESS 

pear  to  have  made  no  inconsiderable  progress  in  Babylon, 
anterior  to  the  limits  of  authentic  profane  history,  corrobo- 
rating the  brief  allusions  in  the  book  of  Genesis.  So  the 
PhcEnicians  were  engaged  in  an  extensive  commerce,  im- 
plying much  progress  in  some  of  the  arts,  before  the  Ho- 
meric poems  were  composed.  They  were  the  medium,  says 
Boeckh,  of  conveying  some  of  the  scientific  knowledge  of 
the  Chaldeans  to  the  Greeks.  The  simplicity  of  manners 
and  habits,  which  prevailed  in  those  early  ages,  is  to  be  by 
no  means  assumed  as  an  index  of  barbarism  ;  it  is  rather 
an  evidence  of  the  contrary.  Were  we  to  trace  the  prin- 
cipal forms  of  heathenism  as  far  towards  their  source  as 
we  can,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  we  should  find 
no  evidence  that  the  earliest  ages  were  the  darkest.  Rays 
of  divine  light,  which  might  have  illuminated  the  first  dwell- 
ers in  Egypt,  Babylon,  and  India,  were  gradually  lost  in 
the  deepening  gloom. 

We  may  name,  as  a  third  cause  of  the  prevalence  of  this 
historical  unbelief,  the  habit  of  transferring  the  method  of 
interpreting  pagan  mythology  to  the  Jewish  Scriptures. 
We  can  hardly  open  a  recent  commentary  on  the  Penta- 
teuch, without  meeting  on  almost  every  page  the  technical 
terms  which  Ottfried  Miiller  and  others  have  sanctioned  in 
relation  to  Greek  mythology.  "  Sagas  and  myths,"  begins 
one  of  the  latest  of  these  commentators,  "  everywhere 
closely  linked  together  in  antiquity,  form  the  external  limit 
of  the  credible  history  of  nations.  They  magnify  the  past 
contests  of  a  nation  for  independence,  narrate  the  begin- 
nings of  one's  own  people,  point  out  the  origin  of  its  cus- 
toms, portray,  often  with  great  copiousness,  the  family  his- 
tory of  ancestors,  their  services  to  following  generations, 
and  determine  their  relations  to  the  progenitors  of  other 


OF   THE   PENTATEUCH.  295 

tribes.  In  short,  every  thing,  which  a  nation  in  its  activity- 
lays  claim  to,  becomes  an  object  in  the  circle  of  myths  and 
sagas."  Now  this  system  may  answer  very  well  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  Indian  or  Chinese  antiquity.  Nothing  may 
be  more  beautiful  or  coherent  than  such  a  theory  applied  to 
the  early  Roman  legends.  In  that  case,  an  historical  fact 
may  be  embellished  with  a  thousand  fabulous  ornaments, 
or  a  mere  conception  of  the  mind  may  have  clothed  itself 
in  the  form  of  history.  But  is  it  right  to  transfer  this  in- 
genious exegesis  to  the  narratives  of  Moses  ?  Do  not  the 
numerous  pagan  legends  presuppose  one  system  which  was 
true,  and  of  which  they  are,  more  or  less,  perversions  or 
anomalous  excrescences.  And  are  not  the  earliest  remains 
of  Hebrew  antiquity  essentially  different,  in  certain  marks 
of  trustworthiness,  from  those  of  pagan  origin  ?  Yet,  how- 
ever diverse  the  Greek  mythology  is  from  the  Hebrew 
patriarchal  narratives,  one  and  the  same  system  of  interpre- 
tation has  been  employed  in  both.  The  cosmogony  of 
Moses,  and  the  flood  of  Noah,  have  been  judged  by  the  same 
principles  as  have  been  applied  to  the  theory  of  the  crea- 
tion sung  by  Ovid,  or  to  the  deluge  of  Deucalion.  The 
book  of  Genesis  is  regarded  by  many  as  a  poetic  account 
of  the  origin  of  the  human  race. 

The  only  remaining  cause  of  this  general  scepticism, 
which  we  shall  mention,  is  the  influence  of  two  celebrated 
men.  Wolf  and  Niebuhr, —  an  influence  which,  for  a  time, 
pervaded  more  or  less  every  department  of  literature. 
Though  a  considerable  interval  elapsed  between  the  ap- 
pearance of  Wolf  and  that  of  the  Roman  historian,  yet  they 
may  here  be  considered  together.  The  former  tried  to 
break  down,  with  his  iron  mace,  the  integrity  of  the  Iliad  ; 
the  latter,  after  demolishing  Livy's  beautiful  fabric  in  re- 


296  AUTHENTICITY  AND  GENUINENESS 

spect  to  the  early  history  of  Rome,  attempted  to  reconstruct 
it  on  a  more  solid  basis.  "  When  Wolf  came  forward," 
says  Tholuck,  "  with  the  hypothesis  which  has  made  him 
immortal,  many  great  philologists  shook  their  heads,  not 
only  in  cautious  Holland  and  stable  England,  but  in  volatile 
France ;  and  a  Villoison  spoke  even  of  a  literary  impiety : 
yet  in  Germany  there  arose,  among  the  great  spirits,  —  a 
Herder,  a  Heyne,  —  only  the  envious  dispute,  who  was 
authorized  to  claim  for  himself,  with  greater  right  than 
Wolf,  the  honor  of  the  first  discoveiy."  *  The  sensation 
which  Niebuhr's  History  created  was  hardly  less.  Some 
apprehended,  that  the  author  w'ould  next  apply  his  searching 
criticism,  with  similar  results,  to  the  Hebrew  records.  In 
addition  to  extensive  and  profound  learning  and  great  inge- 
nuity, which  no  one  would  hesitate  to  ascribe  to  these  re- 
markable men,  both  possessed  some  of  the  rare  attributes 
of  genius.  Erudition  or  acuteness  merely,  though  un- 
matched, could  never  have  produced  the  impression  which 
followed  the  publication  of  their  writings,  t 

As  a  natural  result,  the  eye  of  an  unsparing  criticism  was 
immediately  turned  upon  many  of  the  relics  of  ancient 
times.  Wolf  himself  cast  his  penetrating  glance  upon  the 
Orations  of  Cicero,  and  declared  in  respect  to  four,  "  that 
Cicero  could  never  have  written  them,  sleeping  or  wak- 
ing." X     Many  inferior  men  followed  in  the  course  marked 

*  Die  GlaubwQrdigkeit,  p.  119. 

t  "  Bei  Xiebuhr  war  Denken,  Fuhlen,  und  Handeln  stets  vcreinigt." 
—  Von  Savigny. 

X  Weiske,  in  the  Preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Oration  for  Mar- 
cellns,  showed  the  spm-iousness  of  Wolfs  production  on  the  same 
grounds  by  which  Wolf  attempted  to  prove  the  spuriousness  of  the 
Oration. 


OF   THE   PENTATEUCH.  297 

out  by  Wolf,  some  of  them  carrying  the  principles  of  their 
leader  much  further  than  his  sound  judgment  would  have 
conducted  him.  Discredit  or  contempt  was  heaped  upon 
some  of  the  most  valuable  remains  of  antiquity.  The 
Father  of  History  was  spoken  of  as  a  garrulous  story-teller, 
equally  pleasing  to  children  and  to  decrepit  age.  The 
genuineness  of  some  of  the  most  undoubted  Dialogues  of 
Plato  was  called  in  question  by  Schleiermacher  and  Ast. 
Socher  went  still  further,  and  proscribed  a  large  portion  of 
the  philosopher's  remains.  Even  Thucydides  did  not  wholly 
escape  this  lynx-eyed,  yet  narrow,  criticism. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  Hebrew  writers,  and  the 
Pentateuch  particularly,  would  come  under  special  condem- 
nation ;  because,  among  other  reasons,  its  professed  writer, 
like  Livy,  wrote  many  centuries  after  the  occurrence  of 
some  of  the  principal  events  which  he  describes.  If  suspi- 
cions could  be  cast  upon  the  Gospel  of  Luke  and  the  First 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  much  less  could  the  earliest  Hebrew 
records  be  expected  to  escape  the  ordeal.  Vater,  De  Wette, 
and  others,  followed,  on  sacred  ground,  the  example  which 
Wolf  had  set  them  on  classfcal. 

But  these  days  have  happily  passed,  even  in  Germany. 
An  undistinguishing  scepticism  is  not  now  considered  the 
fairest  evidence  of  scholarship.  Merciless  criticism  is  no 
longer  viewed  as  the  surest  test  of  philological  ability.  The 
widest  and  profoundest  investigations  are  found  to  be  per- 
fectly consistent  with  an  increasing  respect  for  the  monu- 
ments of  antiquity.  It  is  pertinent  to  our  object  to  advert 
to  a  few  facts  which  indicate  a  return  to  a  sounder  and 
more  healthful  criticism. 

It  is  difficult  to  state  the  exact  truth  in  regard  to  the 
opinion  which  is  now  entertained  of  Wolf  and  his  famous 


298  AUTHENTICITY  AND  GENUINENESS 

theory.  That  his  writings  and  lectures  contributed  to 
modify  somewhat,  where  they  did  not  subvert,  the  current 
belief  in  relation  to  the  Homeric  poems,  there  can  be  no 
doubt ;  yet  his  influence  has  long  been  on  the  wane.  The 
enthusiasm,  with  which  his  hypothesis  was  once  greeted, 
no  longer  exists.  More  than  twenty-five  years  ago,  Profes- 
sor Welcker,  of  Bonn,  took  decided  ground  against  it.  At 
the  same  period,  also,  the  celebrated  Voss  wholly  dissented, 
as  he  informed  Welcker  in  private.*  Subsequently  came 
out,  in  direct  opposition  to  Wolf,  the  "  Historia  Homeri," 
by  Nitzsch,  of  Kiel,  —  a  book  distinguished  by  acuteness, 
learning,  and  sound  judgment.  The  "  Schul-Zeitung,"  of 
August,  1829,  remarks,  that  "  some  yet  hold  fast  to  Wolf's 
paradoxes."  A  like  opinion  in  respect  to  the  decline  of 
the  Wolfian  hypothesis  has  been  expressed  by  Professors 
Poppo  and  Klotz.  We  should  not  err,  perhaps,  in  affirming, 
that  the  older  philologists,  some  of  them  the  pupils  of  Wolf, 
still  adhere  to  his  theory,  or  to  something  akin  to  it.  The 
younger  scholars,  many  of  them  among  the  ablest  philol- 
ogists in  Germany,  have  broken  away  from  its  bonds,  and 
have  adopted,  more  or  less,  the  views  advocated  by  Nitzsch. 
Wolf's  attack  on  some  of  the  Orations  of  Cicero  has  only 
contributed  more  triumphantly  to  establish  their  genuine- 
ness. The  latest  investigations  have  proved,  that  the  great 
critic  could  "  sometimes  sleep,"  as  well  as  the  great  poet. 
Stallbaum  has  triumphantly  vindicated  the  authenticity  of  a 
number  of  Plato's  Dialogues  against  the  objections  of 
Schleiermacher  and  Ast.  K.  F.  Hermann,  of  Gottingen,t 
speaks  with  contempt  of  "  the  prison-walls  which  the  sub- 

*  Der  Epische  Cyclus,  Vorrede,  p.'8. 

t  Eeview  of  Stallbaum's  edition  of  the  Phaedrus,  in  Jahn's  Jahr- 
bUcher,  1831. 


OF   THE    PENTATEUCH.  299 

jective,  scheming,  hair-splitting  acuteness  of  that  dialec- 
tician [Schleiermacher]  built  as  a  dwelling  for  Plato's  spirit." 
"  Many  essential  passages  of  Plato,"  continues  Hermann, 
"  were  rejected  by  Schleiermacher,  because  he  did  not 
know  how  to  employ  them  in  support  of  his  own  theory." 

Abundant  and  decisive  testimonies  may  be  adduced  in 
regard  to  the  high  estimation  in  which  Herodotus  is  now 
held.  Professor  Ritter,  the  celebrated  geographer,  affirms, 
that,  "  of  all  the  records  of  ancient  times,  none  are  receiv- 
ing more  confirmation  from  modei'n  researches  in  geogra- 
phy, archaeology,  and  kindred  studies,  than  the  tenth  chap- 
ter of  Genesis  and  the  writings  of  old  Herodotus."  Schaff 
remarks,  that  "  the  accuracy  of  Herodotus,  often  assailed, 
is  more  and  more  confirmed  by  modern  investigations."  * 
Wachler  observes :  "  As  the  father  of  geography  and  history, 
Herodotus  is  held  in  merited  and  increasing  respect ;  his 
fidelity  and  accuracy  are  confirmed  by  all  the  investigations 
of  modern  scholars,  and  defended  against  the  doubts  that 
have  been  rashly  thrown  out."  t  Eichwald,  in  his  Geog- 
raphy of  the  Caspian  Sea,  a  work  of  high  authority,  re- 
marks :  "  It  is  with  reason  that  we  are  surprised  both  in 
respect  to  Herodotus's  fidelity  and  love  of  truth,  and  his 
extensive  geographical  knowledge  ;  this  was,  for  the  most 
part,  the  fruit  of  personal  inquiry.  Very  remarkable  is  the 
exact  knowledge  which  he  possessed  of  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Caspian,  and  of  the  particular  tribes  dwelling  there.  It 
may,  perhaps,  be  assumed,  that  he  had  a  more  precise  ac- 
quaintance with  it,  than  was  possessed  by  us  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, or  in  some  respects  even  now  "  ;  —  "a  position," 

*  Encyclopaedia,  fourth  edition,  by  Hermann  and  Schinke,  1837,  I. 
p.  37. 

t  Literaturgescliichte,  I.  p.  141. 


300  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

says  Bahr,  the  editor  of  Herodotus,  "  which  will  hold  equally 
good,  as  we  are  fully  convinced,  of  several  other  countries, 
e.  g.  the  interior  of  Africa."  *  "  Credibility  and  love  of 
truth,"  says  Bahr,  "  can  be  ascribed  to  scarcely  any  histori- 
cal writer  of  Greece  in  a  higher  degree  than  to  Herodotus, 
whom  one  may  rightly  name  in  this  respect  the  Father  of 
History."  "  From  several  very  recent  books  of  travels, 
especially  those  of  Englishmen,  surprising  explanations 
have  been  obtained  of  particular  parts  of  the  history  of 
Herodotus,  and  some  doubtful  or  dark  places  now  appear 
in  a  true  light."  "  How  many  things  are  found  even  now, 
after  the  lapse  of  thousands  of  years,  just  as  the  Father  of 
History  saw  and  described  them  !  "  t 

The  credibility  of  Arrian,  in  the  "  Expedition  of  Alex- 
ander," has  been  fully  recognized  by  Droysen,  his  latest 
editor.  "  As  an  historical  writer,  by  his  careful  investiga- 
tion and  impartial  criticism,  he  occupies  an  important  place 
among  the  Greek  historians  in  general,  while  of  those  who 
have  written  on  Alexander,  as  Photius  already  judged,  he 
has,  undoubtedly,  the  first  place."  | 

We  might  adduce  many  other  testimonies  to  the  same 
effect  in  relation  to  several  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  histo- 
rians, but  it  is  perhaps  unnecessary.  Those  already  referred 
to  show  clearly  enough,  that  the  tone  of  confident  scepti- 


*  Eeview  of  Eichwald's  "  Alte  Geographic  des  Kaspischen  Meeres," 
by  Bahr,  in  Jahn's  JahrbOcher,  XXIII.  p.  153.  "This  geography," 
says  Bahr,  "  has  furnished  a  new  and  splendid  demonstration  of  the 
veracity,  credibility,  and  fidelity  of  Herodotus." 

t  Bahr  in  Jahn,  XVI.  p.  326 ;  XI.  p.  435.  Plutarch  doubts  the  au- 
thenticity of  Herodotus,  because  some  of  his  representations  are  not 
sufficiently  favorable  to  the  Greeks. 

J  Sintenis  in  Jahn,  XVI.  p.  132. 


OF  THE  PENTATEUCH.  301 

cism,  which  is  now  indulged  by  some  in  this  country  in 
respect  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  has  no  counterpart  in  the 
spirit  and  method  with  which  the  study  of  classical  philology 
is  pursued  by  the  ablest  scholars  of  the  present  day.  This 
result  is  not  owing  to  the  less  profound  nature  of  the  in- 
vestigations. The  whole  circle  of  classical  literature  was 
never  so  thoroughly  understood  as  it  is  at  the  present 
time. 

We  may  add,  that  there  are  some  indications  of  a  return, 
in  Germany,  to  a  better  temper  of  mind  and  a  fairer  style 
of  criticism  in  respect  to  the  Old  Testament.  It  was  the 
remark  of  Gesenius,  that  the  older  he  grew,  the  more  he 
was  inclined  to  return  in  very  many  cases  to  the  received 
methods  of  interpretation  ;  and  the  later  numbers  of  his 
Thesaurus  furnish  abundant  testimony  to  the  sincerity  of 
his  declaration.*  In  his  recent  writings,  he  expresses  more 
doubt  in  relation  to  the  theory,  which  he  once  fully  adopted, 
of  the  late  origin  of  the  Pentateuch. 

The  younger  Rosenmiiller  found  occasion,  in  a  number 
of  instances,  to  renounce  the  sceptical  views  which  he  ad- 
vocated in  some  of  his  earlier  works.  Even  De  Wette,  in 
the  last  edition  of  his  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament, 
assigns  an  earlier  origin  to  the  Pentateuch  than  he  supported 
in  the  former  editions.  The  general  current  in  Germany, 
among  those  who  deny  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  five 
books,  seems  to  be  setting  in  the  same  direction.  One  of 
the  latest  and  ablest  commentators  on  the  book  of  Job,  Pro- 
fessor Stickel  of  Gottingen,  has  vindicated  the  speeches  of 
Elihu  as  an  integral  part  of  the  book  of  Job,  —  a  portion  of 
it  which  Ewald  and   others  had    rejected.     The  integrity 

*  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  May,  1843,  p.  375. 
VOL.  11.  26 


302  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

of  Zechariah  is  at  length  admitted  by  De  Wette,  though 
with  evident  reluctance. 

Every  fresh  examination  of  the  topography  and  geogra- 
phy of  places,  described  or  alluded  to  in  the  Pentateuch, 
shows  that  the  writer  had  that  exact  local  information  which 
could  pi'oceed  only  from  personal  observation.  "  The  Old 
Testament,"  says  Legh,  "  is  beyond  all  comparison  the 
most  interesting  and  instructive  guide  of  which  a  traveller 
in  the  East  can  avail  himself."  *  "  Wherever  any  fact  is 
mentioned  in  the  Bible  history,"  says  Wilkinson,  "  we  do 
not  discover  any  thing  on  the  monuments  which  tends  to 
contradict  it."  t  These  and  similar  facts  have  led  such  un- 
prejudiced historians  and  writers  as  Ritter,  Heeren,  Leo, 
Schlosser,  Luden,  Ideler,  Wachler,  and  others,  to  recognize 
the  books  of  Moses  as  authentic  history.  The  principal 
facts  of  the  Pentateuch  are  acknowledged  by  Heeren,  in  his 
"  History  of  Antiquity,"  to  be  historically  established.  John 
von  Miiller  says  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  that  "  the 
data  are,  geographically,  altogether  true.  From  this  chap- 
ter universal  history  ought  to  begin."  "  The  record  of 
God's  miraculous  Providence,"  says  Luden,  in  his  History 
of  Antiquity,  "  in  regard  to  the  Israelites,  the  oldest  mon- 
ument of  written  history,  did  not  preserve  the  people 
faithful  towards  God."  "  We  have  come  to  the  decided 
conviction,"  remarks  Leo,  "  after  examining  what  has  been 
lately  written  on  this  subject,  that  the  essential  parts  of  the 
law,  as  well  as  a  great  portion  of  the  historical  accounts, 
which  form  the  groundwork  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  cannot 
be  entirely  separated  from  the  laws,  as  they  show  their  im- 

*  Voa  Eaumer's  Palsestina,  p.  2,  where  similar  testimony  from  other 
travellers  is  quoted. 

t  Ancient  Egyptians,  I.  34. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  303 

port  and  design,  were  written  by  Moses  himself,  and  that 
the  collecting  the  whole  into  one  body,  if  not  done  by  Moses 
himself,  certainly  took  place  soon  after  his  time,  perhaps 
during  his  life,  and  under  his  own  eye."  * 

III.     Credibility  of  the  Jewish  Historians. 

Our  next  position  is,  that  greater  credit  is  due  to.  the  He- 
brew writers,  when  describing  matters  pertaining  to  Jewish 
history,  than  to  Greek  and  Roman  authors  who  have  ad- 
verted to  or  delineated  the  same  events.  In  the  first  place, 
the  Jewish  historians  lived,  for  the  most  part,  at  or  near  the 
periods  when  the  events  which  they  describe  occurred. 
Moses  was  the  leading  actor  in  the  scenes  which  he  pro- 
fesses to  portray.  The  last  four  books  of  the  Pentateuch, 
in  a  very  important  sense,  are  the  memoirs  of  his  own  life. 
Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Daniel  were  eyewitnesses  of  the 
events  and  matters  which  they  narrate.  The  prophets  are 
historians  of  the  periods  in  which  they  lived.  They  deserve, 
therefore,  more  confidence  than  foreign  writers,  who  flour- 
ished centuries  afterwards.  We  attach  authority  to  Herod- 
otus or  Tacitus  in  proportion  to  the  proximity  of  their  lives 
to  the  events  which  they  portray. 

Again,  the  Hebrew  writers  were  members  of  the  com- 
munity whose  actions  they  record  ;  actual  residents  in  the 
countries  and  cities  respecting  which  they  give  information. 
Moses  was  educated  in  the  Egyptian  court.  He  lived  many 
years  in  the  wilderness,  and  became,  doubtless,  intimately 
conversant  with  the  whole  Arabian  peninsula.  He  does  not 
take  up  his  geographical  notices  at  hearsay.     The  objects 

*  Hengstenberg,  Beitrilge  zur  Einl.  d.  Alte  Test.,  I.  Prolegomena, 
pp.  28 -35;  also  Bibl.  Repos.,  April,  1838,  pp.  440-448. 


304  AUTHENTICITY   AND    GENUINENESS 

which  he  describes  he  did  not  see  with  the  hasty  glance  of 
a  traveller,  but  with  the  practised  eye  of  a  native.  So  with 
other  Biblical  writers.  The  author  of  the  book  of  Job  writes 
with  the  sure  hand  of  one  who  had  ocular  proof.  The  scene 
of  his  poem  is  perfectly  familiar  to  him.  Moses  does  not 
speak  of  Egypt  in  the  manner  of  Pythagoras  or  Plato,  who 
saw  the  country  only  as  travellers  or  temporary  residents. 
Daniel  does  not  write,  respecting  Babylon,  in  the  manner  of 
a  Greek  historian,  who  might  have  accompanied  the  ex- 
pedition of  the  younger  Cyrus.  He  professes  to  have  lived, 
during  the  greater  part  of  a  century,  in  the  metropolis,  en- 
gaged in  an  employment,  which  would  necessarily  lay  open 
to  him  every  source  of  information.  On  the  other  hand, 
Xenophon  and  Diodorus  Siculus  lived  hundreds  or  thousands 
of  miles  from  scenes  and  events  which  they  describe.  They 
may  have  been  observing  travellers,  but  they  could  not 
narrate  the  affairs  of  the  Assyrians  as  they  might  do  those 
of  the  Athenians  or  Sicilians.  The  journal  of  a  tourist  is  no 
adequate  substitute  for  the  knowledge  w'hich  is  obtained 
from  half  a  century''s  residence  in  a  country  or  city. 

In  the  third  place,  some  of  the  principal  classical  writers 
were  strongly  prejudiced  against  the  Jews.  The  early 
Greek  writers  seem  to  have  known  or  cared  little  for  the 
descendants  of  Abraham.  The  literary  community  at 
Athens,  though  excessively  fond  of  novelties,  seem  to  have 
been  wholly  ignorant  of  the  Jews,  or  else  to  have  held  them 
in  profound  contempt.  We  wonder  that  Herodotus,  with 
his  liberal  mind,  and  his  passion  for  extensive  researches, 
did  not  devote  part  of  a  chapter  to  a  land  crowded  with  so 
many  interesting  objects  as  Palestine.  We  wonder  still 
more,  that  men  of  the  comprehensive  views  and  philosophical 
liberality  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  did  not  think  it  worth  while 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  305 

to  look  into  the  laws  and  institutions  of  Moses.  The  entire 
silence  of  such  writers  argues  either  total  ignorance  of  what 
was  occurring  in  Palestine,  or  a  contempt  for  its  inhabitants 
unworthy  of  men  of  their  pretensions. 

Essentially  similar  is  the  impression  which  we  receive 
from  the  Roman  writers.  Cicero,  throughout  his  multifa- 
rious writings,  makes  no  mention,  we  believe,  of  the  Jews. 
The  poets  allude  to  them  in  a  few  instances,  to  point  a  jeer 
or  round  a  period.     Thus  Juvenal  : 

"  TY"^  laws  of  Rome  those  blinded  bigots  slight, 
In  superstitious  dread  of  Jewish  rite  ; 
To  Moses  and  his  mystic  volume  true,"  etc. 

So  remarkable  is  a  paragraph  relating  to  the  Jews  in  the 
pages  of  the  philosophic  Tacitus,  that  we  are  tempted  to  give 
the  substance  of  it.  It  is  found  in  the  fifth  book  of  his 
History. 

"  According  to  some,  the  Jews,  fleeing  from  the  island 
of  Crete,  found  an  abode  in  the  most  distant  parts  of  Libya, 
at  the  time  that  Saturn  was  violently  dethroned  by  Jupiter. 
A  proof  is  obtained  from  the  name.  There  is  a  celebrated 
mountain  in  Crete  called  Ida  ;  the  inhabitants  are  termed 
Idsei,  and,  by  a  barbarous  enlargement  of  the  word,  Judsei. 
Others  report,  that,  in  the  reign  of  Isis,  a  multitude,  pouring 
forth  from  Egypt,  removed  into  the  contiguous  territories, 
under  the  lead  of  Hierosolymus  and  Judas.  Most  maintain 
that  they  are  descended  from  the  Ethiopians,  who,  com- 
pelled by  fear  and  hatred  of  their  king,  Cepheus,  changed 
their  habitation.  Others  relate,  that  an  Assyrian  mixed  pop- 
ulation, being  destitute  of  land,  took  possession  of  a  part  of 
Egypt,  and  by  and  by  inhabited  Hebrew  cities  and  terri- 
tories as  their  own  right,  and  then  the  neighboring  parts  of 
Syria.  Others  give  a  distinguished  origin  to  the  Jews.  The 
26* 


306  AUTHEJ^TICITY    AND   GENUINENESS 

Solymi,  a  people  celebrated  in  the  poems  of  Homer,  found- 
ed the  city  Jerusalem,  and  called  it  from  their  own  name." 

And  this  is  from  the  calm,  careful,  and  reflecting  Tacitus, 
written  after  the  Jewish  nation  had  been  in  existence  almost 
two  thousand  years  ;  after  the  country  had  become  a  Roman 
province  ;  when  Rome  was  filled  with  Jews  ;  and  when,  by 
a  few  minutes'  walk,  he  could  have  found  the  true  account 
of  the  origin  of  the  Jews  in  the  Antiquities  of  Josephus,  or, 
perhaps,  heard  it  from  that  author's  own  mouth.  From  these 
legends  related  by  Tacitus,  we  learn  that  a  profound  his- 
torian might  neglect  with  impunity  to  obtain  accurate  infor- 
mation in  respect  to  a  people  so  despicable  as  the  Jews  ;  and 
we  may  also  see  what  vague  and  unsatisfactory  stories  then 
prevailed  throughout  the  civilized  world  in  regard  to  the 
history  of  the  Hebrews. 

These  facts  show  with  sufficient  clearness,  that  some  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  writers  were  altogetlier  ignorant  of 
the  true  origin  and  condition  of  the  Hebrews,  while  others 
looked  upon  them  with  prejudice  and  contempt.  Why,  then, 
should  we  prefer  these  historians  as  authorities  to  the  He- 
brew writers,  when  the  affairs  of  the  Jews  are  in  question  ? 
Yet  this  has  been  the  prevailing  habit.  Diodorus  is  put 
first,  Moses  second.  If  Manetho  corroborates  the  lawgiver, 
well  ;  if  not,  then  the  pagan  must  be  set  up  as  the  standard. 
If  Daniel's  chronology  does  not  agree  with  that  of  Abydenus, 
then  the  Hebrew  is  pronounced  to  be  in  error,  and  an  addi- 
tional proof  is  supposed  to  be  furnished  against  the  authen- 
ticity of  his  prophecies. 

IV.     Early  Origin  of  ALrHABEiic  Writing. 

It  has  often  been  alleged  as  an  argument  against  the  gen- 
uineness of  the  Pentateuch,  that  alphabetic  writing  did  not 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  307 

exist  at  the  time  of  Moses,  or,  if  it  had  been  discovered,  the 
knowledge  of  it  was  very  limited,  much  too  limited  to  admit 
of  the  existence  and  use  of  such  a  book  as  the  Pentateuch. 
That  alphabetic  writing,  however,  did  exist  at  or  before 
the  age  of  Moses,  i.  e.  1500  B.  C,  is  capable  of  proof  from 
a  great  variety  of  considerations.  If  each  of  the  following 
positions  does  not  of  itself  establish  the  fact,  yet  all,  taken 
together,  can  leave  no  reasonable  doubt  on  the  subject. 

1.  So  far  as  there  is  any  evidence  from  tradition,  it  is  in 
favor  of  the  very  early  discovery  of  alphabetic  writing.* 
The  traditions  of  all  the  nations  of  antiquity  coincide  in  this, 
that  the  art  of  writing  belonged  to  the  origin  of  the  human 
race,  or  to  the  founders  of  particular  nations.  "  Several 
kinds  of  alphabetical  writing  were  in  existence  in  Asia," 
says  William  von  Humboldt,  "  in  the  earliest  times."  The 
Egyptians  attribute  the  discovery  of  alphabetic  writing  to 
Thaaut ;  the  Chaldeans,  to  Cannes,  Memnon,  or  Hermes ; 
many  of  the  Greeks,  to  Cecrops,  who  probably  came  from 
Egypt;  some,  to  Crpheus ;  others,  to  Linus;  iEschylus 
assigns  it  to  Prometheus ;  and  Euripides,  to  Palemedes, 
the  Argive.  All  these  are  witnesses,  that  the  discovery 
reached  beyond  the  commencement  of  history,  so  that 
Pliny  remarks,  not  without  reason,  ex  quo  apparet  celernus 
literarum  usus. 

2.  It  will  hold  good  as  a  general  fact,  that  the  most  use- 
ful arts  would  be  first  invented  or  discovered.  Such  as  are 
necessary  to  the  support  of  human  life,  those  which  man's 
inward  or  outward  necessities  would  first  crave,  would,  in 
general,  be  the  first  that  would  be  originated.  Necessity 
deeply  felt  is  the  mother  of  art.     Feelings  of  joy  or  sorrow, 

*  Hengstenberg,  Beitrage,  I.  p.  425. 


308  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

common  to  man,  and  which  require  for  their  full  expression 
some  outward  symbol,  or  some  auxiliary  accompaniment, 
would  necessarily  lead  to  the  invention  of  musical  instru- 
ments. Some  of  the  more  important  uses  of  iron  would  be 
early  found  out,  because  any  degree  of  civilization,  or  even 
of  comfort,  would  be  hardly  conceivable  without  it.  The 
violent  passions  which  agitate  man  would  early  lead  him 
to  invent  armor,  defensive  and  offensive.  Journeys  or 
marches  would  be  impossible  for  any  considerable  distance, 
without  means  for  crossing  deep  rivers  and  narrow  seas. 
Civilization,  in  any  proper  sense  of  that  word,  would  imply 
a  considerable  knowledge  of  house  architecture ;  if  not  of 
such  contrivances  as  chimneys  and  glass  windows,  yet  of 
some  substitute  for  them. 

Now,  we  can  conceive  of  few  things  more  necessary, 
where  there  was  any  degree  of  refinement,  where  the  sci- 
ences were  at  all  cultivated,  or  where  there  was  any  meas- 
ure of  commercial  activity,  than  the  art  of  writing.  A 
patriarch  burying  a  beloved  wife  among  strangers,  in  a 
strange  land,  would  feel  desirous  to  erect  something  more 
than  a  heap  of  stones,  and  to  affix  something  more  than  a 
rude  portrait  or  hieroglyphic.  He  would  wish  to  write  her 
name  on  the  rock  for  ever.  Among  all  nations,  particularly 
the  Oriental,  there  is  a  strong  disposition  for  constructing 
and  handing  down  genealogical  tables  and  family  registers. 
The  practice  has  its  origin  in  one  of  the  deepest  feelings  of 
our  nature.  Yet  this  would  be  hardly  possible  in  the  ab-. 
sence  of  an  alphabet.  A  long  list  of  proper  names  might 
be  engraven  on  the  memory  of  a  single  person.  But  how 
could  it  thus  be  accurately  propagated  through  a  number  of 
centuries  ?  We  have  abundant  proof  that  the  Chaldeans 
were  early  engaged  in  some  kind  of  astronomical  calcula- 


OF  THE  PENTATEUCH.  309 

tions.  But  how  could  these  be  carried  on  without  the  use 
of  letters  or  figures  ?  And  would  this  skill  in  astronomy  be 
any  less  difficult  than  the  invention  of  an  alphabet  ?  Would 
it  not  be  much  further  from  the  wants  of  common  life  ? 
Again,  we  learn,  from  many  unquestionable  sources,  that 
the  Phoenicians  were,  in  very  early  times,  engaged  in  an 
extensive  commerce,  embracing  at  least  all  the  shores  and 
the  principal  islands  of  the  Mediterranean.  Now  these 
marine  adventures  presuppose  a  sufficient  degree  of  ac- 
tivity of  mind  in  the  Phoenicians  to  invent  an  alphabetic 
system,  if  they  did  not  before  possess  one.  Besides,  how 
extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  conduct  an  exten- 
sive system  of  barter,  to  transport  into  distant  regions  a 
great  variety  of  goods,  as  we  know  the  Phoenicians  did,  to 
commission  agencies,  or  something  equivalent  to  them,  and 
to  carry  home  the  proceeds  or  the  exchanged  articles,  and 
distribute  them  to  a  variety  of  owners,  without  any  written 
record  whatever,  in  dependence  merely  on  the  memory,  or 
on  some  rude  visible  signs  !  For  these  purposes,  no  Mexi- 
can painting  or  Chaldean  symbols  would  be  sufficient.  The 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics  did  not  render  a  contemporaneous 
alphabetic  writing  unnecessary.  For  some  of  the  most 
important  purposes  of  a  civilized  people,  hardly  any  inven- 
tion could  be  more  clumsy  than  the  hieroglyphics.  How 
could  the  deed  of  a  piece  of  land,  the  forms  and  inflections 
of  grammar,  thousands  of  foreign  names  and  terms,  and 
the  numerous  commercial  and  statistical  details  which 
would  be  indispensable  in  a  kingdom  like  Egypt,  be  ex- 
pressed by  pictures,  —  by  the  representations  of  visible  ob- 
jects, however  ingenious  ? 

3.  The  perception  of  historical  truth  exists  in  such  close 
connectioii,  with  the  knowledge  and  extension  of  the  art  of 


310  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

writing,  that  where  the  latter  is  wanting,  the  former  is  never 
found,  not  even  among  those  nations  which  have  certain  ele- 
ments of  it.*  This  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  example 
of  the  Arabians  before  the  age  of  Mohammed.  All  which 
we  know  of  their  history,  says  De  Sacy,  was  found  in  the 
midst  of  oral  traditions,  and  showed  everywhere  that  en- 
tire lack  of  chronological  order,  that  mixture  of  fables  and 
marvels,  which  characterize  the  period  when  a  nation  has 
no  other  historians  than  the  poets,  and  no  other  archives 
than  the  memory  of  succeeding  generations.  Now,  the 
Pentateuch,  according  to  the  unanimous  opinion  of  men 
engaged  in  the  same  department  of  literature,  —  the  his- 
torians, with  whom,  to  a  certain  extent,  agree  the  most  prej- 
udiced among  the  theologians,  —  has  a  truly  historical  char- 
acter. In  this  respect,  it  is  totally  unlike  the  Arabian  tradi- 
tions referred  to.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  the  Penta- 
teuch was  composed  at  a  period  much  later  than  the  time 
of  Moses,  and  thus  acquired  its  historical  character  when 
the  art  of  writing  was  generally  practised  by  the  Israelites. 
But,  according  to  the  theory  generally  entertained  by  those 
who  hold  to  the  late  origin  of  the  Pentateuch  as  a  whole, 
there  are  fragments,  portions  larger  or  smaller,  which  must 
have  been  written  at  or  before  the  time  of  Moses.  Now 
these  fragments  have  the  genuine  historical  stamp,  as  clear- 
ly as  the  supposed  later  portions ;  and  in  them,  also,  are 
references  to  historical  works,  like  the  "  Book  of  the  Wars 
of  the  Lord,"  which  have  perished. 

4.  The  theory  of  the  early  discovery  of  the  art  of  writ- 
ing derives  strong  confirmation  from  the  fact  of  the  very 
high  antiquity  of  many  of  the  arts  in  Egypt,  and  especially 

*  Hengstenberg's  Authentie,  I.  409. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  311 

of  such  as  are  necessary  to  the  art  of  writing.  If  arts, 
requiring  great  skill  and  strong  powers  of  invention,  were 
in  use  at  a  very  early  period,  then  we  may  suppose,  that 
the  art  of  writing,  requiring  no  higher,  perhaps  not  so  high, 
powers  of  invention,  might  have  been  discovered. 

"  We  have  been  enabled,"  says  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson,  "  to 
fix,  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  precision,  the  bondage  of 
the  Israelites  and  the  arrival  of  Joseph ;  and,  though  these 
events  took  place  at  an  age  when  nations  are  generally  sup- 
posed to  have  been  in  their  infancy,  and  in  a  state  of  bar- 
barism, yet  we  perceive,  that  the  Egyptians  had  then  ar- 
rived at  as  perfect  a  degree  of  civilization  as  at  any  subse- 
quent period  of  their  history.  They  had  the  same  arts,  the 
same  manners  and  customs,  the  same  style  of  architecture, 
and  were  in  the  same  advanced  state  of  refinement,  as  in 
the  reign  of  Rameses  II.  The  most  remote  point  to  which 
we  can  see  opens  with  a  nation  possessing  all  the  arts  of 
civilized  life  already  matured.  The  same  customs  and  in- 
ventions that  prevailed  in  the  Augustan  age  of  that  people, 
after  the  accession  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  are  found 
in  the  remote  age  of  Osirtasen  I. ;  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  they  were  in  the  same  civilized  state  when  Abraham 
visited  the  country."  *  Many  obelisks,  each  of  a  single 
block  of  granite,  had  been  hewn  and  transported  twelve 
miles,  from  the  quarries  at  the  cataracts  of  Syene,  as  ear- 
ly at  least  as  the  time  of  Joseph  ;  and  the  same  mechan- 
ical skill  had  already  existed  even  before  that  period,  as  is 
shown  from  the  construction  of  the  pyramids  near  Mem- 
phis, which,  in  the  size  of  the  blocks  and  the  style  of  build- 


*  Wilkinson,   Manners   and    Customs   of  the  Ancient  Egyptians, 
2d  ed.,  Vol.  I.  Preface ;  Vol.  III.  p.  260. 


312  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

ing,  evince  a  degree  of  architectural  knowledge,  perhaps 
inferior  to  none  possessed  at  a  subsequent  period.  The 
wonderful  skill  the  Egyptians  evinced  in  sculpturing  or 
engraving  hard  stones,*  is  still  more  surprising  than  their 
ability  to  hew  and  transport  blocks  of  granite.  We  wonder 
at  the  means  employed  for  cutting  hieroglyphics,  frequently 
to  the  depth  of  more  than  two  inches,  on  basalt,  or  sienite, 
and  other  stones  of  the  hardest  quality.  Their  taste,  too, 
was  not  deficient  in  originality,  while  it  is  universally  al- 
lowed to  have  been  the  parent  of  much  that  was  afterwards 
perfected  with  such  wonderful  success  by  the  ancient 
Greeks.t 

The  Egyptians  appear  to  have  been  acquainted  with 
glass-blowing  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Osirtasen  I.,  1700 
B.  C.  The  process  is  represented  in  the  paintings  of  Beni 
Hassan,  executed  during  the  reign  of  that  monarch  and  his 
immediate  successors.  A  bead,  bearing  a  king's  name  who 
lived  1500  B.  C,  Itas  been  found  at  Thebes,  the  specific 
gravity  of  which  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  crown  glass 
now  manufactured  in  England.  Glass  vases,  for  holding 
wine,  appear  to  have  been  used  as  early  as  the  Exodus. 
The  colors  of  some  Egyptian  opaque  glass  not  only  pre- 
sent the  most  varied  devices  on  the  exterior,  but  the  same 
hue  and  the  same  device  pass,  in  right  lines,  directly 
through  the  substance  ;  so  that  in  whatever  part  it  is  broken, 
or  wherever  a  section  may  chance  to  be  made  of  it,  the 
same  appearance,  the  same  colors,  and  the  same  device, 
present  themselves,  without  any  deviation  from  the  direc- 

*  "  To  devise  cunning  works,  to  work  in  gold,  and  in  silver,  and 
in  brass,  and  in  cutting  of  stones  to  set  them,"  etc. —  Ex.  xxxi. 
4,  5. 

t  Wilkinson,  III.  85. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  313 

tion  of  a  straight  line,  —  a  mode  of  workmanship  which 
Europeans  are  still  unable  to  imitate. 

"  It  is  not  from  the  Scriptures  alone  that  the  skill  of  the 
Egyptian  goldsmiths  may  be  inferred  ;  the  sculptures  of 
Thebes  and  Beni  Hassan  afford  their  additional  testimony ; 
and  the  numerous  gold  and  silver  vases,  inlaid-work  and 
jewelry,  represented  in  common  use,  show  the  great  ad- 
vancement they  had  already  made,  at  a  remote  period,  in 
this  branch  of  art.  The  engraving  of  gold,  the  mode  of 
casting  it,  and  inlaying  it  with  stones,*  were  evidently 
known  at  the  same  time  ;  numerous  specimens  of  this  kind 
of  work  have  been  found  in  Egypt."  t 

The  ornaments  in  gold,  found  in  that  country,  consist  of 
rings,  bracelets,  armlets,  necklaces,  ear-rings,  and  numer- 
ous trinkets  belonging  to  the  toilet ;  many  of  which  are  of 
the  early  times  of  Osirtasen  I.  and  Thothmes  III.,  the  con- 
temporaries of  Joseph  and  of  Moses.  Gold  and  silver  vases, 
statues,  and  other  objects  of  gold  and  silver,  of  silver  inlaid 
with  gold,  and  of  bronze  inlaid  with  the  precious  metals, 
were  also  common  at  the  same  time.  Substances  of  va- 
rious kinds  were  overlaid  with  fine  gold-leaf,  at  the  earliest 
periods  of  which  the  monuments  remain,  even  in  the  time 
of  Osirtasen  I.|  Silver  rings  have  been  found  of  the  age  of 
Thothmes  III.  The  paintings  of  Thebes  frequently  rep- 
resent persons  in  the  act  of  weighing  gold  on  the  purchase 
of  articles  in  the  market.  The  arch  of  brick  existed  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  Amunoph  I.,  1540  B.  C.     It  would 

*  "  Aaron  fashioned  it  with  a  graving  tool,  after  he  had  made  it  a 
molten  calf."  —  Ex.  xxxii.  4. 

t  Wilkinson,  III.  223. 

J  The  ark  of  acacia-wood,  made  by  Moses,  was  overlaid  with  pure 
gold.    Ex.  XXV.  11,  12. 

VOL.   II.  27 


314  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

appear  from  the  paintings  at  Beni  Hassan,  that  vaulted 
buildings  were  constructed  as  early  as  the  time  of  Joseph. 
Harps  of  fourteen  and  lyres  of  seventeen  strings  are  found 
to  have  been  used  by  the  ordinary  Egyptian  musicians,  in 
the  reign  of  Amosis,  about  1500  B.  C.  "  Stone-v^^orkers 
were  accustomed,"  says  Rosellini,  "  to  engrave  upon  each 
square  block  an  inscription  in  hieroglyphics  ;  an  impression 
was  made  upon  the  bricks,  which  besides,  very  frequently, 
bore  inscriptions  ;  even  oxen  were  represented  ;  the  steward 
of  the  house  kept  a  written  register.  They  probably  wrote 
more  in  ancient  Egypt,  and  on  more  ordinary  occasions, 
than  among  us."  "  The  Egyptians,"  says  the  same  au- 
thor, "  differ  specially  from  all  other  people,  in  that  they 
constantly  cover  the  interior  and  exterior  of  their  houses, 
and  the  walls  of  all  the  innumerable  apartments  of  their 
subterranean  burial-places,  with  images  and  writings."  * 

In  the  infancy  of  society,  various  materials  were  employed 
for  writing,  as  stones,  bricks,  tiles,  plates  of  bronze,  lead, 
and  other  metals,  wooden  tablets,  the  leaves  and  bark  of 
trees,  and  the  shoulder-bones  of  animals. t 

The  Egyptians  were  not  less  celebrated  for  their  manu- 
facture of  paper,  than  for  the  delicate  texture  of  their  linen. 
The  plant  from  which  it  was  made,  the  papyrus,  mostly 
grew  in  Lower  Egypt.     "  Pliny  is  greatly  in  error,"  says 

*  Robbins's  Translation  of  Ilengstenberg's  Egypt  and  the  Books  of 
Moses,  p.  89. 

t  The  Kor3in,  which  much  exceeds  the  Pentateuch  in  extent,  was 
first  inscribed  on  tlie  most  inconvenient  materials.  Fragments  of  it 
written  in  the  time  of  Mohammed,  and  subsequently  incorporated  into 
the  work,  were  written  not  onlj^  on  pieces  of  skin  or  parchment,  but  to 
a  greater  extent  on  leaves  of  the  palm,  on  white  and  flat  stones,  ou 
bones,  such  as  shoulder-blades  and  ribs. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  315 

Wilkinson,  "  when  he  supposes  that  the  papyrus  was  not 
used  for  making  paper  before  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  since  we  meet  with  papyri  of  the  most  remote  Pha- 
raonic  periods  ;  and  the  same  mode  of  writing  on  them  is 
shown,  from  the  sculptures,  to  have  been  common  in  the 
age  of  Suphis  or  Cheops,  the  builder  of  the  great  pyramid, 
more  than  two  thousand  years  before  our  era."  * 

From  the  facts  above  quoted,  and  which  might  be  greatly 
enlarged,  all  antecedent  improbability  in  respect  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  art  of  writing  is  taken  away.  Rather,  the 
contemporaneous  existence  of  an  art  so  necessary  is  strongly 
presupposed. t 

*  Wilkinson,  III.  149,  150. 

t  The  question  may  possibly  be  asked,  How  can  the  very  eai'ly  ex- 
istence of  the  arts  in  Egypt  be  asserted  so  positively "?  On  what  grounds 
can  the  exact  period  of  the  existence  of  a  particular  art  be  assumed  f 
In  other  words,  On  what  do  the  hieroglyphical  discoveries  rest  ?  One 
answer  is,  that  all  who  have  examined  the  monuments,  in  accordance 
with  the  method  of  deciphering  the  hieroglyphics  discovered  by  Young 
and  ChampoUion,  are  substantially  agreed.  Coincidence  of  views  in 
men,  differing  in  many  respects  so  widely,  as  is  the  case  with  Young, 
ChampoUion,  Salvolini,  Gesenius,  Eosellini,  Lepsius,  Prudhoe,  Wil- 
kinson, Letronne,  Leemans,  and  many  others,  is  satisfactory  proof  of 
the  correctness  of  the  results  to  which  they  have  arrived.  Examina- 
tions so  thorough  and  long-continued,  by  men  so  competent,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  almost  perfect  preservation  of  many  of  the  paint- 
ings and  monuments,  justify  the  confidence  which  is  now  universally 
accorded.  Another  answer  is,  that  the  results  of  the  deciphering  agree 
substantially  with  the  notices  respecting  the  subject  in  Diodorus,  He- 
rodotus, Manetho,  Clement,  etc.  The  monuments,  in  many  essential 
points,  confirm  the  historians.  There  is  often  a  circumstantial  agree- 
ment in  a  number  of  independent  witnesses.  Between  the  Bible  and 
the  monuments  no  instance  of  contradiction  has  yet  been  found. 
Among  the  Biblical  proper  names  found  on  the  monuments  are  C"?'' '» 

S-13,  j:'-o,   npn>-i,   |idx-xj,   f]6  or  t^j,   njr?,  pa^'B?,  onqa, 


316  AUTHENTICITY   AND    GENUINENESS 

5.  Letters  were  introduced  into  Greece  from  Phoenicia, 
and  at  a  veiy  early  period.  In  respect  to  the  first  of  these 
poshions,  there  is  no  longer  any  doubt.  The  claims  of  the 
Phoenicians  rest,  not  only  on  historical  notices,  but  on  the 
essential  unity  which  appears  in  the  names  and  forms  of 
the  Oriental  and  Greek  letters.  "  That  the  Greeks,"  says 
Professor  Boeckh,  "  received  their  alphabetic  writing  from 
the  Phognicians,  is  an  undeniable  fact."  * 

In  proof  of  the  very  early  existence  of  alphabetic  writing 
among  the  Greeks,  the  following  considerations  may  be 
adduced.  Even  those,  who  deny  that  Homer  practised  the 
art  of  writing,  allow  that  it  was  introduced  into  Greece  at 
an  early  time.  F.  A.  Wolf  even  remarks,  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  art  of  writing  at  a  very  early  period  may  be 
safely  concluded  from  the  testimony  of  Herodotus.t  O. 
Miiller  says,  that  the  art  was  practised  several  hundred 
years  before  Solon. 

The  oldest  inscriptions  reach  back  between  600  and  700 
B.  C.  But  these  inscriptions  imply  a  previous  knowledge 
of  reading  somewhat  extended ;  and  it  may  be  that  letters 
and  the  materials  of  writing  were  in  the  hands  of  a  caste 
long  before  the  earliest  inscriptions  which  have  come  down 
to  us.  The  existence  of  such  a  learned  caste  in  other 
countries  renders  this  probable.  And  it  ought  ever  to  be 
remembered,  that  there  is  not  one  chance  in  a  hundred  that 
our  earliest  inscriptions  are  actually  the  earliest. 

D::D0,    p"in  n'3,    D^S,   ni;;j,   etc.    See   HaUe  Lit.  Zeit.,  May, 
1839,  p.  21. 

*  Metrologische  Untersuchungen,  1838,  p.  41. 

t  "Wolf  maintains  that  it  was  impossible,  even  for  the  poets  them- 
selves, without  the  aid  of  writing,  to  project  and  retain  in  their  memory 
poems  of  sach  an  extent  as  the  Iliad. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  317 

It  would  not  be  relevant  to  go  at  large  into  the  question, 
whether  the  author  of  the  Homeric  poems  made  use  of 
writing,  yet  it  may  be  well  to  advert  to  it  briefly.  We  have 
names  and  some  fragments  of  epic  poets  who  go  back  as  far 
as  to  the  commencement  of  the  Olympiads,  about  780  or 
800  B.  C,  and  who,  it  was  never  pretended,  delivered  their 
poems  orally.  Why  should  Homer  be  torn  from  their  com- 
pany, if  it  can  be  shown  that  he  did  not  live  more  than  a 
century,  or  a  century  and  a  half,  before  them  ? 

Again,  there  are  two  or  three  allusions  in  the  Iliad  itself, 
which,  to  say  the  least,  are  most  naturally  interpreted  by 
supposing  the  contemporaneous  use  of  writing.  In  lines 
166-  170  of  Book  VI.,  it  is  related,  that  Bellerophon  was 
sent  by  the  king  of  Argos  to  a  Lycian  king,  with  a  closed 
tablet,  in  which  the  former  had  traced  many  deadly  signs, 
a-TjfxaTa  \vypd,  that  is,  had  given  secret  instructions  to  the 
Lycian  king  to  destroy  the  bearer.  Did  this  tablet  contain 
alphabetical  characters,  or  mere  pictures  ?  The  former  is 
certainly  the  most  simple  and  reasonable  interpretation. 
But  if  they  were  hieroglyphics,  it  would  be  evident,  as 
Thirlwall  remarks,*  that  the  want  of  alphabetic  writing, 
which  was  so  felt,  and  which  had  been  partially  supplied 
by  drawing,  would  soon  be  met  by  adopting  the  Phoenician 
characters.  If  the  Greeks  had  no  proper  alphabet,  still 
this  narrative  shows  that  they  were  fully  prepared  for  it, 
as  they  had  the  idea  of  communicating  intelligence  to  a 
distant  person  by  signs. 

Again,  we  learn  from  innumerable  passages  in  the  Ho- 
meric poems,  that  the  Phcenicians  at  that  time  carried  on  an 
active  commerce  with  the  Greeks.     Homer  was  himself  an 


*  Thhiwall's  Greece,  I.  p.  108,  Harpers'  ed. 
27* 


318  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

Asiatic  Greek,  or  a  native  of  an  island  near  the  Asiatic 
shore.  As  we  know  that  the  Phoenicians  practised  writing 
before  his  time,  is  it  conceivable,  that  the  inquisitive  Greeks 
would  remain  in  ignorance  of  a  discovery  so  useful,  or  that 
Homer's  universal  genius  would  not  obtain  a  hint  of  an  art 
from  innumerable  voyagers  and  travellers,  whom  he  must 
have  seen,  whom  he  well  knew,  and  who  practised  an  art 
which  was  in  general  use  two  or  three  hundred  miles  from 
his  own  home,  probably  on  the  same  coast  ? 

There  are  many  things  in  these  poems,  which,  to  say  the 
least,  it  would  be  nearly  impracticable  to  hand  down  through 
successive  generations  by  the  memory  in  its  utmost  perfec- 
tion, A  catalogue  of  ships  occupies  half  of  the  second  book 
of  the  Iliad.  Supposing  that  parts  of  it  are  interpolated,  yet 
it  is  still  a  catalogue,  a  lexicon  of  countries,  cities,  towns,  — 
nearly  all  the  geography  and  topography  of  Greece.  There 
are  the  names  of  leaders,  often  with  their  genealogies,  wives, 
children,  and  finally  a  list  of  more  than  thirteen  hundred 
ships.  To  this  is  to  be  added  all  the  commanders  and  al- 
lies of  Troy,  and  a  geographical  summary  of  their  native 
countries  and  cities.  Could  such  things  be  safely  trusted 
to  the  memory  ?  Is  the  memory  tenacious  of  long  lists  of 
dry  names  and  facts  ?* 

Again,  notwithstanding  all  which  has  been  ingeniously 
urged  on  the  opposite  side,  there  is  a  manifest  unity  of 
plan,  and  a  higher  unity  of  feeling  and  action,  in  the  Iliad. t 
If  this  is  the  case,  then  the  Iliad  must  have  come  down  to 
us,  in  its  most  essential  parts,  as  it  proceeded  from  the  soul 
of  the   author.     It  is  hardly  conceivable   that  a  series   of 

*  Hug,  Erfindung  d.  Buchstabenschrift,  p.  90. 

t  0.  MQller  rejects  the  opinion  of  those  who  would  separate  the  Iliad 
and  Odyssey  into  parts,  as  ahogetlier  antiquated. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  319 

later  poets  could  have  so  entered  into  the  mind  of  the  au- 
thor, as  to  develop  that  inward,  living  germ  which  the  poem 
certainly  possesses.  There  is  a  bare  possibility  that  por- 
tions of  the  Paradise  Lost  were  not  from  the  pen  of  Milton. 
Yet  it  would  require  some  degree  of  hardihood  positively  to 
affirm  what  is  directly  in  face  of  the  unity  of  the  poem. 
The  products  of  a  great  genius  are  not  of  that  loose  and 
uncertain  character.  The  original,  organic  connection 
must  be  destroyed  by  later  interpolating  poets.  In  the  case 
of  Homer,  too,  it  must  be  supposed  that  these  later  poets 
were  men  of  equal  genius,  which  would  certainly  be  a 
most  extraordinary  phenomenon. 

Here,  then,  are  two  poems,  containing,  after  all  interpo- 
lations are  removed,  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  lines, 
exhibiting  a  symmetry  of  parts,  a  unity  of  plan  more  or  less 
developed,  and  all  animated  by  the  spirit  of  sweet  simplicity, 
genuine  nature,  and  also  by  the  highest  sublimity.  Is  it 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  there  were  a  number  of  authors  ? 
Is  it  reasonable  to  imagine,  is  it  not  rather  incredible,  that 
the  author  could  have  transmitted  these  poems  without  the 
aid  of  writing  materials  ?  We  may  conceive,  possibly, 
that  they  could  be  transmitted  from  the  second  person  or 
generation  to  the  third,  and  so  on,  without  such  aid.  But 
in  the  first  instance,  they  must  have  been  committed  to 
something  more  firm  than  man's  treacherous  memoiy. 
The  process  of  composing  a  poem  of  fifteen  thousand  or 
of  ten  thousand  lines,  according  to  a  regular  plan,  the  va- 
rious parts  more  or  less  cohering  together,  with  thousands 
of  proper  names,  and  all  without  the  aid  of  writing  mate- 
rials, would  seem  to  involve  an  impossibility  on  the  very 
face  of  it.     At  all  events,  it  is  far  less  simple,  and  is  encom- 


320  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

passed  with  much  more  formidable  difficulties,  than  the  old 
and  common  theory.* 

6.  We  now  proceed  to  show  by  direct  proof,  that  alpha- 
betic writing  did  exist,  and  was  extensively  employed,  at  or 
before  the  time  of  Moses.  It  will  be  most  satisfactory  to 
state  the  evidence  in  the  language  of  those,  who,  as  all  will 
acknowledge,  are  the  best  qualified  to  judge  on  this  subject. 
Most  of  the  writers  whom  we  shall  quote  are  far  from 
entertaining  undue  respect  for  the  word  of  God.  A  num- 
ber of  them  are  leading  rationalists,  who  deny  altogether 
that  Moses  was  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch.  According- 
ly, their  testimony  must  be  regarded  as  specially  valuable, 
for  Moses  could  not  have  been  the  author  of  the  books 
which  are  attributed  to  him,  if  alphabetic  writing  was  then 
unknown.  Into  the  particular  theories  of  the  writers  in 
regard  to  the  countries  where  writing  had  its  origin,  the 
mode  of  its  extension,  etc.,  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  in- 
quire. No  apology  will  be  necessary  for  the  introduction 
of  a  few  facts  and  allusions,  not  specially  bearing  on  the 
main  object  which  we  have  in  view.  We  begin  with  Gese- 
nius.  The  passage  is  found  in  an  appendix  to  the  last  edi- 
tion of  his  Hebrew  Grammar,  published  a  short  time  before 
his  death. 

"  In  order  to  understand  the  names  and  forms  of  the  He- 
brew letters,  recourse  must  be  had  to  the  Phoenician  alpha- 


*  The  same  course  of  argument  may  be  applied  to  the  Pentateuch. 
There  are  various  passages  in  it,  as  the  exact  census,  Numb,  ii.,  and  the 
itinerary.  Numb,  xxxiii.,  for  which  the  memory  would  be  a  very  unsafe 
depository.  There  are,  also,  throughout  the  book,  marks  of  one  con- 
trolling mind,  unity  of  plan  and  design.  So  far  as  this  concinnity  of 
the  difterent  portions  can  be  proved,  so  far  is  it  shown  to  be  necessary 
for  the  author  to  have  pos.sessed  writing  materials. 


OF   THE    PENTATEUCH.  321 

bet,  the  parent  of  all  the  alphabets  of  Western  Asia  and 
Europe.  In  this  the  forms  of  the  twenty-two  letters  are 
still  pictures,  more  or  less  manifest,  of  sensible  objects,  the 
names  of  which  begin  with  these  letters,  while  the  names 
of  the  letters  denote  those  objects. 

"  Accordingly,  the  Phoenician  alphabet  was  developed 
from  a  hieroglyphic  writing,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
characters  no  longer  denote,  as  was  the  case  in  the  hiero- 
glyphics, the  represented  objects  themselves,  but  solely  the 
initial  letters  of  the  same.  This  transition  from  hieroglyphic 
to  alphabetic  writing  we  find  very  early  among  the  Egyp- 
tians, at  least  2000  B.  C.  [500  years  before  Moses].  The 
oldest  writing  of  the  Egyptians  was  solely  hieroglyphic. 
But  as  this  did  not  provide  for  the  necessities,  naturally 
often  arising,  to  express  the  sound  of  words  also,  an  ingeni- 
ous expedient  was  devised,  of  causing  a  number  of  pictures 
to  denote  merely  the  initial  sound  of  the  word  indicated 
thereby ;  e.  g.  the  hand,  tot,  was  assumed  for  t ;  the  mouth, 
ro,  for  r.  So  the  alphabetic  writing  was  originated,  which 
the  ancient  Egyptians  used  in  constant  connection  with  the 
hieroglyphic.  Along  with  the  latter,  which  was  used  on  the 
monuments,  and  which  consists  of  perfect  pictures,  the 
Egyptians  had  still  another  mode,  though  less  exact,  to  ex- 
press objects  of  common  life,  in  which  the  pictures  were 
often  so  abridged  as  to  be  indistinct,  consisting  only  of 
rough  elementary  strokes. 

"  In  accordance  with  these  historical  premises,  it  is  in  the 
highest  degree  probable,  that  some  Phoenician,  connected  in 
very  ancient  times  with  the  neighboring  Egyptians,  invent- 
ed his  own  alphabet,  new  and  altogether  more  convenient 
and  practical.  Rejecting  entirely  the  hieroglyphics  and  their 
innumerable  characters,  he  selected  simply  twenty-two  signs 
for  the  twenty-two  consonant  sounds  of  his  language.'" 


322  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

"  To  determine  the  time  and  place  of  this  discovery, 
facts  are  wanting ;  yet  that  it  was  made  by  the  PhcEnicians 
in  Egypt,  in  accordance  with  its  Egyptian  type  or  model, 
somewhere  near  the  time  of  the  reign  of  the  Shepherd 
Kings  in  Egypt,  is  a  very  probable  supposition."* 

"  It  is  remarkable,  that  the  names  of  so  many  letters  refer 
to  objects  of  pastoral  life ;  some  seem  to  be  of  Egyptian 
origin,  at  least  Tety  t 

The  following  passages  are  from  Professor  Ewald's  latest 
work. I 

"  From  a  consideration  of  the  Semitic  languages,  it  ap- 

*  The  Shepherd  Kings,  according  to  Wilkinson  and  others,  con- 
quered Egypt  before  Joseph  was  carried  captive  there.  Wilkin- 
son, I.  38. 

t  On  another  page,  Gesenius  remarks,  that  "  the  high  antiquity  of 
the  Hebrew  pronouns  appears  from  their  most  extraordinary  agree- 
ment with  the  pronouns  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  language,  by  far  the 
oldest  of  which  we  possess  any  written  memorials."  All  the  separate 
pronouns  in  the  Egyptian  are  compounded  of  the  proper  germ  of  the 
pronoun  and  a  prefixed  syllable,  an,  ant,  tnt,  which  must  have  given  it 
a  demonstrative  sense,  and  served  to  impart  to  a  short  word  more  power 
and  body.  The  Hebrew  pronouns  of  the  first  and  second  persons 
have  this  prefixed  syllable,  at  least  an.  It  is  not  found  in  the  third  per- 
son, in  the  Biblical  Hebrew,  yet  it  is  seen  in  the  Talmudic.  1  he  essen- 
tial pronoiniiuil  forms  in  both  languages  correspond,  e.  g.  Egypt.  3d 
pers.  pi.  sen,  to  Heb.  hem,  hen.  The  demonstrative  prefixed  syllable  an, 
in  (]{<),  has  a  manifest  analogy  with  rn^see.'  etc.  "It  now  appears 
to  be  probable,  that  between  the  Hebrew  and  ancient  Egyptian,  there 
was  not  merely  the  reciprocal  reception  of  words  ali-eady  formed,  but  a 
relationship  of  stem,  lying  deeper,  and  as  old  at  least  as  that  with  the 
Indo-Germanic  stock."  "The  correspondences  of  the  Hebrew  with 
the  ancient  Egyptian  are  still  more  important  than  with  the  Coptic." 
Gesenius's  Heb.  Gram  ,  13th  edition.  Halle  Lit.  Zeit.  1839,  No.  80; 
1841,  No.  40. 

i  Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel,  1843, 1,  p.  68  -  "!• 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  323 

pears  that  the  Asiatic  dialects,  at  least,  expressed  the  simplest 
ideas  in  respect  to  the  art  of  writing  in  tlie  same  manner 
throughout,*  while  later  improvements  in  the  art  could  be 
easily  expressed  by  each  in  a  different  way.  This  phe- 
nomenon is  not  otherwise  explainable  than  as  follows. 
This  existing  writing  was  first  used,  in  its  simplest  applica- 
tion, by  an  unknown  primitive  Semitic  people  ;  from  them 
it  was  received,  together  with  the  most  necessary  designa- 
tions of  the  object,  by  all  the  Semitic  tribes  known  to  us  in 
history,  just  as  certainly  as  the  fact  that  the  term  Eloah, 
for  God,  common  to  all  the  Semitic  nations,  shows  that 
already  the  primitive  people  from  whom  they  separated 
designated  God  by  this  name.  Following  such  traces,  we 
may  be  led  to  the  most  surprising  truths,  beyond  the  most 
distant  periods  of  the  history  of  nations." 

"  We  thus  here  see  how  every  investigation  into  the  origin 
of  writing  among  the  primitive  tribes  leads  us  back  to  the 
remotest  misty  antiquity,  to  a  more  exact  investigation  of 
which  all  our  present  helps  are  not  adequate.  Among 
these  tribes,  writing  is  always  earlier  than  we  can  follow  it 
historically,  just  as  every  original  art  certainly  springs  from 
the  most  direct  necessities  of  life,  and  may  be  soonest  de- 
veloped by  a  people  extensively  engaged  in  commerce  ;  its 
use  for  the  purpose  of  writing  history,  or  only  of  fixing 
laws,  lies  manifestly  very  early  back.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  primitive  Semitic  people  to  whom  half  of  the  civ- 

*  Not  only  Dr)3,  to  write,  with  its  many  derivatives,  is  common  to  all 
the  Semitic  languages  (perhaps  with  the  exception  of  the  -Silthiopic), 
but  also  1DD,  book,  and  VT,  ink ;  only  the  instrument  for  writing  must 
have  been  early  changed,  since  f3JT  and  122\]  stand  nearl}'  alone,  the 
Syrians  using,  instead  of  it,  njp,  and  the  Arabians  and  Ethiopians, 
together  with  the  later  Jews,  KoXnpLos. 


324  AUTHENTICITY   AND   GENUINENESS 

ilized  world  are  indebted  for  this  inestimable  gift,  so  much 
cannot  be  mistaken,  that  it  appears  in  history,  as  a  posses- 
sion of  a  Semitic  people,  2o7ig  before  the  time  of  Moses  ; 
and  that  Israel  had  already,  before  his  time,  known  and 
employed  it  in  Eg\"pt,  can  be  assumed  without  difficulty." 

"The  kindred  nations  may  have  had,  not  only  the  art  of 
writing,  but  an  historical  literature  also,  earlier  than  Israel, 
since,  according  to  all  the  traces,  Israel  was  among  the 
smallest  and  latest  of  the  tribes  in  the  series  of  the  larger 
and  earlier  developed  brother-nations.  In  our  opinion,  the 
notices  in  respect  to  Edom,  definite  and  copious  as  they  are 
given  in  Gen.  xxxvi.,  bear  altogether  the  marks  of  having 
been  drawn,  by  the  writer,  from  older  Edomitish  sources ; 
then,  also,  the  report  in  regard  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Edom- 
ites  must  have  had  some  ground.  We  also  call  to  mind  the 
primitive  narration.  Gen.  xiv.  (wholly  different  from  all  the 
other  notices),  where  Abraham  is  spoken  of  as  a  "  He- 
brew," almost  a  stranger  to  the  narrator,  just  as  a  Canaan- 
itish  historian  might  speak  of  him.  The  information  inci- 
dentally preserved,  Numb.  xiii.  22,  in  respect  to  the  time  of 
the  building  of  the  early  founded  cities,  Hebron  in  Canaan 
and  Tanis  in  Egypt,  appears  altogether  like  the  fragment 
of  a  Phoenician  work,  or  of  one  not  Hebrew." 

"  Thus  it  appears  to  us  not  only  as  very  probable,  but 
rather  certain,  that  the  earliest  historians  of  Israel  found 
already  in  existence  a  multitude  of  historical  works  of  the 
kindred  tribes.  That  the  Tyrians  possessed  historical 
books,  carefully  written,  with  an  exact  chronology,  we  know 
definitely  from  fragments  of  the  works  of  Dios  and  Menan- 
der  of  Ephesus,  which  they  prepared  for  the  Greeks." 

"Thus  the  position  is  firmly  established,  that  from  the 
time  of  Moses  Hebrew  historical  writing  could  have  been 
developed,  and  was  developed." 


OF  THE  PENTATEUCH.  325 

Our  next  extract  is  from  Von  Lengerke,  a  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Konigsberg.*  "  The  use  of  writing  and 
of  the  easier  writing-material,  that  made  of  skins,  is  thus 
presupposed,  by  the  oldest  tradition,  to  have  been  in  exist- 
ence at  the  time  of  Moses,  and  there  is  no  sufficient  ground 
to  doubt  it."  "  At  all  events,  it  appears  to  be  historically 
proved  from  their  names,  e.  g.  Kirjalh  Sepher,  city  of  the 
hook,  etc.,  that  writing  was  practised  by  the  inhabitants  of 
Canaan,  at  a  very  early  time,  before  the  return  of  the  Isra- 
elites from  Egypt."  "  That  the  Israelites  appropriated  to 
themselves  many  arts  while  in  Egypt,  e.  g.  the  art  of  weav- 
ing, of  fusing  and  working  metals,  etc  ,  is  undeniable  ;  and 
probably  the  like  may  be  concluded  of  the  art  of  writing, 
though  the  discovery  of  a  Semitic  alphabet  cannot  be  of 
Egyptian  origin ;  still  the  supposition  is  probable,  that 
the  Egyptian  hieroglyphic  writing  was  transformed  by  the 
Hyksos  (Shepherd  Kings)  into  alphabetic  writing,  and  that 
this  discovery  then  passed  over  to  the  other  Semitic  tribes." 
"  The  Tyrians  certainly  had  an  historical  literature  in  the 
Mosaic  era;"for,  though  the  fragments  from  Dios  and  Me- 
nander  of  Ephesus  do  not  relate  to  a  time  earlier  than  that 
of  David  and  Solomon,  still  we  may  draw  the  conclusion 
from  the  genuinely  historical  stamp  of  these  notices,  that 
Phoenician  historical  writers  flourished  at  a  far  earlier 
period." 

"  The  conclusion  does  not  appear  hasty,"  says  Professor 
A.  T.  Hartmann  of  Rostock,  "  that  the  art  of  writing,  for  a 
long  time  employed  by  the  Babylonians,  passed  over  to  the 
Phoenicians,  as  soon  as  the  latter  felt  their  need  of  it.  Now 
if  this  was  the  case,  the  Phoenicians  ha^d  learned  to  use  this 

*  Kenaan.  Volks-und  Religionsgeschichte  Israel's,    1844,  Introduc- 
tion, pp.  XXX.,  xxxi ,  and  p.  374. 
VOL.  II.  28 


326  AUTHENTICITY    AND   GENUINENESS 

invaluable  art,  certainly  at  a  period  which  extends  far  back 
of  Moses  and  the  residence  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt."  * 
"  Acquaintance  with  alphabetic  writing,"  says  Vater,  "  on 
the  part  of  Moses  and  his  contemporaries,  is  not  merely 
possible,  but  more  than  probable."  f 

"  The  inscriptions  on  the  Babylonian  bricks,"  says 
Boeckh,!  "  which  are  written  in  a  character  similar  to  the 
Phoenician,  exhibit  a  later  form  than  the  oldest  Phoenician  ; 
yet  this  by  no  means  proves,  that  the  Phoenician  character 
did  not  originate  in  Babylon  ;  for  it  certainly  often  happens, 
that  the  older  form  of  writing  is  preserved  in  a  derived 
alphabet  longer  than  in  the  original  one,  as  the  Italian  al- 
phabet, and  particularly  the  Latin,  show  in  relation  to  the 
Greek." 

"  The  Egyptians  on  one  side,"  says  Professor  Olshausen 
of  Kiel,  "  the  Hebrews  and  Phoenicians  on  the  other,  we 
find,  at  a  time  which  extends  back  of  all  sure  chronology, 
in  possession  of  an  alphabet,  which  has  one  and  the  same 
extraordinary  principle  to  denote  the  sound.  For  this  pur- 
pose an  object  was  represented  or  pictured,  wfiose  name  in 
the  various  spoken  ^languages  of  Egypt  or  the  Semitic 
tribes,  begins  with  this  sound." 

"  Moses  at  least  was  acquainted  with  the  Egyptian  writ- 
ing;  he  himself  could  write  ;  from  him  begin  the  notices 
in  respect  to  the  practice  of  the  art  of  writing  among  the 
Israelites."  || 

It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  these  references  any  further. 
The  argument  from  this  source  against  the  genuineness  of 

*  Histor.  Krit.  Forschungen,  1831,  p.  615. 

t  Vater,  quoted  by  Hengstenberg,  Beitrage,  I.  p.  424. 

t  Metrolog.  Untersuch.,  p.  40. 

II  Ueber  den  Ursprung  d.  Alphabetes,  1841,  pp.  5,6. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  327- 

the  Pentateuch  is  wholly  untenable,  and  is  generally  aban- 
doned in  Germany.  As,  however,  it  has  been  recently 
brought  forward  with  considerable  confidence,  and  as  the 
discussion  of  it  might  cast  light  on  other  topics  which  may 
come  under  consideration,  we  have  thought  it  worth  while 
to  devote  some  space  to  it. 

V.  The  Language  and  Style  of  the  Pentateuch  do  not 

PROVE    ITS    later    OrIGIN. 

It  is  confidently  affirmed  by  some  in  our  country,  that 
the  Pentateuch  must  be  of  comparatively  recent  origin,  from 
the  fact  that  its  language  and  idiom  do  not  differ  from  those 
of  the  professedly  later  books.  Moses,  as  is  affirmed, 
wrote  six  or  eight  centuries  before  some  of  the  prophets  ; 
there  would,  therefore,  inevitably  be  many  archaisms,  or 
vestiges  of  antiquity,  in  the  former ;  but  as  there  are  not, 
then  it  follows  that  the  writer  of  the  Pentateuch  must  have 
been  coeval,  or  nearly  so,  with  the  prophets.  The  similarity, 
or  rather  identity,  of  style  in  the  two  cases  precludes  any 
other  hypothesis.  We  might  with  as  much  reason  suppose 
that  the  Latin  of  Ennius,  or  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  would  be 
identical  with  that  of  Livy  or  Tacitus  ;  or  that  Chaucer  and 
Addisoo  would  use  the  same  English  vocabulary  ;  as  that 
Moses  and  Isaiah  should  be  found  to  differ  in  style  as  little 
as  they  do.  The  early  origin  of  the  Pentateuch  is  impos- 
sible on  this  ground  alone.  We  need  no  other  proof  that  it 
is  not  genuine. 

It  is  hardly  necessary,  perhaps,  to  undertake  to  refute 
this  position  at  length.  The  opponents  of  the  genuineness 
of  the  Pentateuch  in  Germany  have  generally,  and  long  ago, 
abandoned  this  ground  as  untenable.  Since,  however,  it  is 
again  urged  as  a  decisive   objection  to   the  early  origin  of 


328  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

the    five   books  of   i\Ioses,  it  may  be  well  to  devote  a  few 
pages  to  its  examination. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  true  that  there  are  no  differ- 
ences between  the  language  of  the  Pentateuch  and  that  of 
the  later  books.  The  ditferences  are  by  no  means  incon- 
siderable, as  the  best  Hebrew  scholars  of  the  present  day 
■acknowledge  Ewald,  speaking  of  some  fragments  of  the 
Pentateuch  and  Joshua,  says  that  "there  are  many  things 
in  the  style  as  rare  as  they  are  antique.  Considering  the 
small  number  of  passages,  the  amount  of  words  elsewhere 
wholly  unknown,  or  not  used  in  prose,  is  great."* 

The  last  service  which  was  performed  for  the  cause  of 
sacred   learning  by  Dr.  Jahn  of  Vienna,  was  an   elaborate 
essay  on  the  language  and  style  of  the  Pentateuch,  designed 
to  vindicate  its  genuineness.     His  object  was  to  show  that 
there  are  a  multitude  of  words  in  the  Pentateuch,  which  never 
occur,  or  very  rarely,  in  the  later  books ;  while  in  the  later 
books  there  are  many  words,  which  are  never  or  but  seldom 
found  in  the  Pentateuch.     In  his  lists,  he  has  omitted  most  of 
the  oTral  Xf-yo^fi/a,  also  those  words,  which  must  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  be  peculiar  to  the  Pentateuch  ;  e.  g.  proper 
names  of  countries,  cities,  and  nations  ;  the  names  of  particu 
lar  diseases,  such  as  the  leprosy  and  its  symptoms  ;  ^e  vari 
ous  terms  which  designate  blemishes  in  men,  priests,  and  sac 
rificial  offerings,  and  those  which  were  employed  in  the  con 
struction  of  the  tabernacle  ;  also  the  names  of  those  natura 
objects  which  are  peculiar  to  Egypt  and  the  Arabian  desert 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  list  of  words  peculiar  to  the  later 
books,  those  terms  are  excluded  which    the  author  of  the 
Pentateuch  had  no  occasion  to  use.     After  the  designations 

"  Geschichte  d.  Volkes  Israel,  L  77. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  329 

for  all  these  classes  of  objects  were  left  out,  Jahn  then  made 
a  selection  from  the  most  important  of  the  remainder. 
This  enumeration  comprises  about  four  hundred  words  and 
phrases  peculiar  to  the  Pentateuch,  or  but  very  seldom  em- 
ployed elsewhere,  and  about jTo^r  hundred  words  and  phra- 
ses in  the  later  books,  which  either  do  not  occur  at  all,  or 
but  very  rarely,  in  the  Pentateuch.  Jahn's  list,  as  Fleng- 
stenberg  remarks,  requires  a  revision,  as  Hebrew  learning 
has  made  great  progress  in  the  last  twenty-five  years.  Jahn 
fell  into  some  mistakes  in  his  interpretation  of  words,  and 
he  confined  himself  too  much  to  their  external  form.  He 
should  also  have  omitted  the  ana^  Xeyojxfva.  Yet,  after  all 
allowances  are  made,  the  greater  portion  of  the  words  in 
his  enumeration  are  perfectly  in  point.  Not  a  few  words 
and  phrases  to  which  he  makes  no  allusion  might  swell  the 
number. 

We  here  adduce  a  few  terms  and  forms  of  speech, 
some  of  the  more  important  of  which  Gesenius  and  Ewald 
also  refer  to  as  peculiar  to  the  Pentateuch. 

The  words  xin,  Ae,  and  li^J,  young  man,  are  of  common 
gender,  and  used,  also,  for  she  and  young  looman.  The 
former  is  found  in  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  places,  as 
feminine,  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  neither  is  found  as  feminine 
out  of  it.  "  In  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  language," 
says  Ewald,  "  and  the  obviously  gradual  separation  of  gen- 
der, this  is  a  proof,  which  cannot  be  mistaken,  in  favor  of 
the  high  antiquity  of  the  Pentateuch."  When  Nin  stands 
for  X'H,  the  punctators  give  it  the  appropriate  pointing  of 
this  form  (xin).  From  this  circumstance,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested as  probable,  that  other  original  archaisms  in  the 
Pentateuch  may,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  have  been  con- 
formed to  later  usage. 

28* 


330  AUTUENTICITV    AND    GENUINENESS 

The  plural  of  the  demonstrative  pronoun  '7??  is  found 
eight  times  in  Genesis,  Leviticus,  and  Deuteronomy,  always 
with  the  article  ;  elsewhere  this  form  is  found  but  once 
(there  without  the  article),  in  1  Chron.  xx.  8,  "  manifestly 
borrowed,"  says  Ewald,  "  from  the  Pentateuch."  In  all 
other  places,  n  is  appended,  nSx. 

The  phrase,  i -;r^fr?  ^Q^l,  to  be  gathered  to  his  people,  is 
the  standing  form  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  in  the  other  books  it 
is  never  found.  Instead  of  it,  elsewhere,  the  phrase,  to 
sleep  with  his  fathers,  is  employed. 

The  customary  designation  of  cohabitation  in  the  Penta- 
teuch by  Tiiyy,  nSj,  is  found  elsewhere  only  in  Ezek.  xxii.  10, 
where  there  is  a  manifest  play  upon  the  words  in  Lev. 
XX.  11. 

Together  with  the  form  tl'53,  Ia7nb,  the  form  3^3  is 
found  in  the  Pentateuch  fourteen  times ;  elsewhere  never. 

I'P,  species,  kind,  occurs  twenty-eight  times  in  the  Pen- 
tateuch, elsewhere  only  in  Ezek.  xlvii.  10,  borrowed  from 
Gen.  i.  21. 

niTJ  n'!?,  sweet  odor,  used  of  offerings,  occurs  four  times 
in  the  Pentateuch,  elsewhere  only  in  Ezekiel,  where  it  is 
manifestly  borrowed  from  the  Pentateuch. 

n'p>^,  neighbor,  in  Pentateuch  eleven  times  ;  elsewhere 
only  in  Zech.  xiii.  7,  manifestly  grounded  on  the  usage  in 
the  Pentateuch. 

For  pny,  to  laugh,  of  the  Pentateuch,  the  other  books 
use  pna?  with  three  exceptions,  png?  is  used  fifty-two  times. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  exchange  of  pi^lf  for  the  softer  p;^T. 
The  V  is  the  hardest  of  the  sibilants.  "  The  general  pro- 
cess of  modification,"  says  Ewald,  "  is,  that  the  harder, 
rougher  sounds  become  more  and  more  exchanged  for 
those  which  are  softer  and  weaker."  Even  in  the  proper 
name,  Isaac,  W  is  used  for  ^  in  Amos. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  331 

"I'i^^  is  used  for  goat  fifty  times  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  else- 
where never. 

The  country  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  opposite  Jericho, 
has  in  the  Pentateuch  the  name  3N1D  nn^^,  plains  of  Mo- 
ah  ;  elsewhere  only  in  Josh.  xiii.  22,  in  reference  to  the 
narrative  in  the  Pentateuch.  In  Judg.  xi.  12  seq.,  where 
there  is  a  somewhat  detailed  account  of  the  march  of  Jeph- 
thah  into  this  territory,  there  is  no  trace  of  this  name  ;  it  is 
called  the  land  of  the  Amorites. 

The  designation  of  the  Jordan,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Jericho,  by  '\ny_  pv,  is  found  only  in  the  Pentateuch  and 
Joshua. 

The  phrase,  to  cover  the  eye  of  the  earth,  fTl^JC  I'i'."^^  '^^^j 
occurs  only  in  the  Pentateuch.  It  is  one  evidence  of  the 
sensuous  character  of  the  language  of  the  Pentateuch.  In 
later  times,  such  expressions  appear  only  in  poetry.  It  has 
a  parallel  in  the  expression,  "  as  the  ox  licketh  up  the  grass 
of  the  field,"  Numb.  xxii.  4. 

The  verb  35D,  to  hollow  out,  occurs  only  in  the  Penta- 
teuch. In  the  remaining  books,  3pJ  is  employed,  which  is 
also  found  in  the  Pentateuch. 

nnpj,  female,  is  found  twenty-one  times  in  the  Penta- 
teuch, elsewhere  only  in  Jer.  xxxi.  22,  where  there  is  an 
evident  reference  to  Numb.  vi.  30. 

nT3,  here,  in  this  place,  only  in  the  Pentateuch.  D',!?^^, 
in  the  sense  of  times,  literally  heats,  is  not  found  out  of  the 
Pentateuch.  In  the  other  books,  the  equivalent,  D^ors,  is 
used,  which  also  appears  in  the  Pentateuch.  This  pecu- 
liarity is  not  to  be  regarded  as  accidental.  In  ancient 
times,  when  visible  objects  had  such  preponderance,  the 
connection  of  the  original  meaning  of  a  word  with  its  de- 
rivatives was  so  visibly. preserved,  that  every  word  which 


332  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

signifies  yboi  or  stej}  miglit  be  used,  without  any  addition, 
in  the  sense  of  times. 

The  phrase,  "ii'|  iJ|,  Numb.  xxiv.  3,  15,  son  of  Beor. 
The  1  as  the  outward  mark  of  the  construct  state,  belongs 
to  the  infancy  of  language.  It  is  peculiar  to  the  Penta- 
teuch, except  that  it  is  found  in  Ps.  cxiv.  8,  which  is  an  imi- 
tation, and  in  the  word  in'.n,  Ps.  1.  10  ;  civ.  11  ;  Is.  Ivi.  9  ; 
Zeph.  ii.  14,  which  is  copied  literally  from  Gen.  i.  24. 

CQt  is  used  in  Numbers  for  the  later  CT}V  and  DHD. 

The  words,  DpDDN,  mixed  jmdtitude,  Numb.  xi.  4,  and 
Spbp,  vile,  light,  Numb.  xxi.  5,  are  not  found  except  in  the 
Pentateuch. 

rinriON,  sack,  is  found  fifteen  times  in  Genesis,  elsewhere 
never;  p^N*,  hurt,  five  times  in  the  Pentateuch,  not  else- 
where ;  n?n,  breast  of  animals,  thirteen  times,  only  in  the 
Pentateuch;  K'O^n,  sickle,  twice  in  Deuteronomy  (SjO  is 
the  later  word)  ;  D-iprS3,  every  living  thing,  only  in  Gen.  and 
Deut. ;  DDn,  portion,  tribute,  three  times,  in  Numbers  only  ; 
nD3p,  number,  only  in  Exod.  and  Lev.  ;  ^U^  to  be  redun- 
dant, nine  times,  only  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  p'lK'J^,  a  tenth 
part,  twenty-six  times,  only  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  ■"^i?,  '^p?, 
hostile  encounter,  seven  times,  only  in  the  Pentateuch ; 
pp,  to  emit  rays,  only  in  Exod.  xxxiv.  29,  xxx.  35  (elsewhere 
nJJ) ;  '^nn,  to  brood  or  hover  over,  in  Piel,  only  Gen.  i.  2, 
Deut.  xxxii.  11;  p'n3B' n3ii>,  rest  of  the  Sabbath,  eleven 
times  in  Exod.  and  Levit.,  elsewhere  never  ;  "iA">i',  offspring, 
only  in  the  Pentateuch  ;  H^DK',  effusion,  nine  times,  only  in 
the  Pentateuch  ;  D'K'W  ,  great-grandchildren,  only  in  Gen., 
Exod.,  Numb.,  and  Deut.  ;  S^in,  foul  pollution,  only  in 
the  Pentateuch ;  i^y^^,  coat  of  mail,  only  in  Exodus  (later 
words  are  n^T^,  ji'''?''^''  ^tc). 

There  is,  however,  a  remarkable  homogeneousness  in 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  333 

most  of  the  remains  which  we  possess  of  the  Hebrew 
literature.  We  cannot  separate  these  remains  into  diflerent 
periods,  as  is  done  in  regard  to  Roman  literature.  The 
distinction  of  golden  and  silver  ages,  which  Gesenius 
makes,  does  not  hold  throughout.  The  language  and  id- 
iom of  the  Pentateuch  are  substantially  like  the  language 
and  style  of  the  later  historians  and  prophets. 

Yet  this  resemblance  does  not  by  any  means  prove  the 
later  origin  of  the  Pentateuch.  The  five  books  may  have 
been  written  in  their  present  form,  substantially,  by  Moses. 
This  may  be  proved  by  the  following  considerations. 

1.  The  affirmation,  that  the  genuineness  of  the  Penta- 
teuch is  destroyed,  because  its  idiom  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  other  Hebrew  books,  thus  demonstrating,  as  it  is  said,  its 
recent  authorship,  proves  too  much.  It  would  show  that 
the  vi^hole  body  of  Hebrew  literature  must  be  contemporane- 
ous. The  books  of  Samuel,  as  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands, 
were  written  several  hundred  years  before  the  prophecy  of 
Malachi ;  yet  the  Hebrew  of  the  two  productions  is  not 
essentially  different.  Now  if  the  identity  of  the  style  of 
the  Pentateuch  and  that  of  Isaiah  demonstrates  the  late 
origin  of  the  former,  then,  for  the  same  reason,  the  writer 
of  Samuel  must  have  been  contemporaneous  with  the  last 
of  the  prophets.  If  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of 
archaisms  in  the  Pentateuch  be  necessary  to  show  its  Mo- 
saic authorship,  then  the  existence  of  a  less  number  in  the 
books  of  Samuel  is  necessary  in  order  to  show  that  it  was 
written  before  the  age  of  Malachi  or  Zechariah.  There  is, 
confessedly,  a  great  difference  in  the  age  of  different 
Psalms.  Some,  we  know,  were  written  by  David.  Others 
were  composed  after  the  captivity.  Yet  some  of  the  latter 
are  among  the  most  beautiful  and  original  in   the  whole 


334  AUTHENTICITY    AND   GENUINENESS 

compass  of  Hebrew  literature,  while  the  style  and  idiom 
are,  in  all  important  respects,  the  same  as  those  of  which 
David  was  the  writer.  The  Hebrew  of  the  hundred  and 
thirty-seventh  Psalm  has  as  close  a  resemblance  to  that  of 
the  eighteenth,  as  the  Hebrew  of  Isaiah  has  to  that  of  the 
Pentateuch.  If  an  interval  of  several  hundred  years  be 
allowed  —  as  it  is  by  every  one  —  to  intervene  between  the 
authorship  in  the  case  of  the  two  Psalms,  then  the  same 
may  be  rightfully  admitted  in  respect  to  Isaiah  and  the  Pen- 
tateuch. In  other  words,  what  proves  too  much,  proves  noth- 
ing. A  course  of  argument  that  would  make  the  Pentateuch, 
on  the  ground  of  style,  contemporaneous  with  Isaiah,  would 
make  the  authorship  of  the  whole  Old  Testament  identical  in 
point  of  time,  unless  we  except  a  few  fragments,  savoring 
strongly  of  Chaldee. 

2.  The  Pentateuch  would  naturally  serve  as  a^  model  and 
common  source  for  the  writers  of  the  subsequent  portions 
of  the  Scriptures.  It  was  the  law-book,  unrepealable,  for 
the  Jewish  race.  Constant  reference  must  have  been  made 
to  its  pages,  especially  by  the  priests  and  the  more  culti- 
vated part  of  the  nation.  They  would,  either  intentionally 
or  insensibly,  adopt  its  idioms  and  phraseology.  It  con- 
tained the  record  of  the  miraculous  dispensations  of  the 
Almighty  towards  their  favored  progenitors.  Deviation 
from  its  style  might  come  to  be  regarded  almost  as  a  moral 
offence.  Or,  if  there  were  nothing  of  this  superstitious 
reverence,  still  it  would  imperceptibly  and  deeply  affect 
the  entire  national  literature.  And  this  is  found  to  be 
actually  the  fact.  References  to  the  law,  presuppositions 
of  its  various  institutes,  imitation  or  copying  of  its  lan- 
guage, reminiscences,  perfectly  spontaneous,  of  the  events 
recorded  in  it,  are  everywhere  found  in  the  older  historical 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  335 

books,  the  prophets,  and  Psalms.  In  four  of  the  earlier 
prophets,  Isaiah  (not  including  chaps,  xl.-lvi),  Micah, 
Hosea,  and  Amos,  there  are  more  than  eight  hundred 
traces  of  the  existence  of  the  Pentateuch  in  its  present 
form.*  One  cannot  read  even  four  or  five  chapters  of  these 
prophets,  with  any  degree  of  attention,  without  being  struck 
with  the  great  number  of  allusions  to  the  facts  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch. This  would  often  involve,  of  course,  the  quota- 
tion of  the  precise  language  employed  in  describing  those 
events.  There  is  no  fact  exactly  parallel  to  this  in  the 
whole  circle  of  literature.  Luther's  German  version  of  the 
Bible,  and  King  James's  English  version,  have  done  much 
to  fix  the  character  of  the  German  and  English  languages. 
Not  a  little  of  the  best  literature  of  the  two  nations  is  deeply 
tinctured  with  the  spirit  of  these  translations,  where  the  ex- 
act style  and  language  are  not  copied.  Yet  there  are  many 
circumstances  that  counteract  this  influence,  which  did  not 
exist  in  respect  to  the  Pentateuch.  They  are  regarded  as 
mere  versions,  no  one  feeling  for  them  the  reverence  which 
is  entertained  for  the  original.  They  are  not  the  fountain 
of  civil  and  national  law,  as  the  Pentateuch  was  to  the 
Jews.  The  two  versions  principally  affect  the  religious 
and  devotional  literature.  The  case  most  analogous  to  the 
Pentateuch  is  the  Koran.  Its  effect  on  Arabic  literature,  as 
will  be  mentioned  below,  has  been  great,  for  many  centu- 
ries. Yet,  perhaps,  it  has  never  had  that  marked  and  all- 
pervading  influence  which  the  five  books  of  Moses  have 
exerted  on  Hebrew  literature. 

3.  The  unchangeable   character   of   Hebrew    literature 
would     be     naturally    inferred    from    the     character     of 

*  See  Tuch,  Kommentar  Uber  die  Genesis,  Vorrede,  p.  98. 


336  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

the    people,   and   the    circumstances   in   which   they  were 
placed. 

They  lived  in  the  midst  of  nations  who  spoke  the  same 
language,  or  dialects  closely  cognate.  Their  own  language 
was  indigenous  in  Canaan.  Their  numerous  wars  were 
almost  exclusively  carried  on  against  tribes  who  used  the 
same  or  related  languages.  Of  course  there  would  be  no 
room  for  any  intermixtures  of  foreign  speech  from  this 
source. 

The  Hebrews  were  strictly  a  religious  people,  connected 
together  by  the  strongest  ties,  forbidden  to  engage  in  foreign 
commerce,  taught  to  look  upon  the  religious  usages  and 
many  of  the  common  customs  of  other  nations  with  ab- 
horrence, never  inclined  to  travel  abroad,  and  utterly  in- 
disposed (often  in  contravention  to  the  spirit  of  the  Mosaic 
law)  to  admit  foreigners  into  their  society.  Up  to  the  time 
of  David,  they  had  but  little  access  to  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  the  coast  being  lined  by  their  inveterate  enemies,  the 
Philistines.  They  had  but  one  large  city.  Nearly  all  their 
literature  originated  in  Jerusalem.  Almost  all  the  writers, 
of  whom  mention  is  made,  seem  to  have  lived  in  the  metrop- 
olis. There  was  no  rival  city,  no  Italian  or  Asiatic  colony, 
to  use  and  glory  in  a  different  dialect  from  the  dialect  of 
that  proud  Athenian  city.  All  the  tribes  were,  in  an  impor- 
tant sense,  residents  of  Jerusalem.  Three  times  in  a  year, 
and  for  days  together,  a  great  proportion  of  the  male  pop- 
ulation mingled  together  in  the  most  unreserved  inter- 
course, —  a  circumstance  which  would  strongly  tend  to 
preserve  the  unify  and  purity  of  the  language.  There 
were  scarcely  any  arts  or  sciences  to  corrupt,  with  their 
nomenclature,  the  old  forms  of  the  language.  No  system 
of  philosophy  ever  crept  into  the  country.     None  could 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  337 

have  been  introduced  without  injuring  the  religious  spirit  of 
the  people.  With  the  exception  of  the  priests  and  Levites, 
the  nation  were  almost  wholly  employed  in  the  agricultural 
or  pastoral  life,  —  a  condition  which,  perhaps,  least  of  all 
admits  of  changes  in  idioms  or  in  the  forms  of  words. 

We  may  add  to  these  considerations,  the  unchangeable- 
ness  which  has  always  characterized  Oriental  life  through- 
out. The  same  permanence  which  attaches  to  manners 
and  customs  would  of  course  extend,  more  or  less,  to  the 
forms  of  speech.  Progress  is  the  law  in  the  West ;  stabil- 
ity, in  the  East.  The  Occidental  languages  are  subject  to 
the  ceaseless  change  which  characterizes  all  other  things.* 
The  Oriental  delights  to  rehearse  the  same  allegories  and 
apothegms,  expressed  in  the  same  terms,  which  gratified 
his  earliest  progenitors. 

The  structure  itself  of  the  Semitic  dialects  would  lead 
us  to  the  same  general  conclusion.  This  is  manifest,  e.  g. 
in  the  law  of  triliterals,  in  the  relation  of  compound  nouns 
and  derivatives  to  their  roots,  and  in  the  perfect  regularity 
with  which  the  forms  of  the  verb  are  developed. 

4.  We  have,  however,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  objec- 
tion advanced,  the  perfect  analogy  of  other  Semitic  lan- 
guages. The  Syriac  and  Arabic  underwent,  for  many 
centuries,  comparatively  little  change.  The  oldest  remains 
of  the  Syrian,  the  Peshito  version  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  was  prepared  in  the  second  century,  agree  through- 
out, in  all  essential  things,  with  the  Syriac  of  Barhebrseus, 
who  lived   in   the   thirteenth  century,   notwithstanding  the 

*  This  is  entirely  consistent  with  the  position  of  the  degeneracy  of 
the  Orientals  in  knowledge  and  virtue.    Manners,  customs,  languages, 
might  be  permanent,  while  acquaintance  with  the  character  of  God 
and  the  perception  of  human  duty  were  becoming  obscure. 
VOL.   IT.  '29 


338  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENITINENESS 

tendency  of  the  latter,  in  its  language  and  syntactical  forms, 
to  the  Arabic.  "  Tiiat  no  more  changes  happened  to  the 
Syriac,"  says  HofTmann,*  "  in  this  long  interval  of  time, 
is  not  strange  ;  for  as  manners,  customs,  usages,  etc.  are 
altered  less  among  Orientals  than  Europeans,  so  it  is  with 
a  language  ;  if  it  makes  any  progress,  it  is  still  more  likely 
to  remain  long  stationary,  than  to  advance.  As  the  Koran 
has  imposed  a  restricted  and  fixed  character  on  the  Arabic 
language,  so  the  most  ancient  monument  of  Syriac  letters 
—  the  version  of  the  sacred  books  —  has  effected  the  same 
in  the  Syi'iac  language."  It  should  also  be  recollected, 
that  this  permanence  in  the  language  was  maintained 
while  the  Syrians  were  under  subjection  to  a  foreign  power. 
Of  course  the  language  was  more  liable  to  corruption  than 
could  have  been  the  case  with  the  Hebrew  before  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity. 

A  still  stronger  proof  may  be  drawn  from  the  Arabic. 
Professor  Kosegarten  of  Greifswald,  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished living  Orientalists,  in  a  review  of  Eichhorn's  In- 
troduction to  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  Jena  Allgemeine 
Literatur-Zeitung,  July,  1825,  has  shown,  by  a  clear  and 
fundamental  examination,  that  the  fact  of  the  stability,  or 
continued  unchanging  character  of  the  Arabic  language, 
can  be  established  by  the  most  unquestionable  proofs  from 
the  language  itself,  not  only  during  a  period  of  six  hundred 
years,  but  of  a  thousand  years,  yea,  for  fifteen  hundred 
years.  The  grammatical  structure  of  the  Arabic  language 
remains  the  same  in  all  the  writers  which  full  within  these 
three  widely  separated  periods.  Declensions,  conjugations, 
constructions,  are  the  same.     The  smaller,  incidental  de- 

*  Syriac  Grammar,  p  15. 


OF    THE    rENTATEUCH.  339 

viations  are  no  more  considerable,  by  any  means,  than  the 
difference  which  appears  between  the  language  of  the 
Pentateuch  and  that  of  the  older  Hebrew  prophets.  No 
greater  difference  is  to  be  noted,  in  a  lexical  respect,  in 
these  Arabic  writers,  than  that  which  occurs  between  the 
Pentateuch,  the  books  of  Samuel,  and  Isaiah.  We  may 
hence  conclude,  that  in  the  Arabic  language,  during  the 
fifteen  hundred  years  in  which  we  can  examine  its  form, 
no  such  changes  at  all  have  taken  place  as  appear  in  the 
German  dialects,  and  in  those  derived  fi'om  the  Latin,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  centuries,  and  which  have  happened  to 
the  Greek  language  down  to  its  present  form  in  Modern 
Greek.*  Consequently,  the  Mosaic  writings  might  have 
been  separated  from  some  other  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment by  an  interval  of  a  thousand  years,  and  at  the  same 
time  exhibit  but  few  variations  in  language  and  idiom. 

We  are  happy  to  subjoin,  in  further  corroboration  of  the 
views  here  presented,  some  more  exact  statements  in  re- 
gard to  the  history  of  the  Arabic,  from  a  friend  who  has 
long  made  that  language  his  particular  study. 

"  You  are  aware  that  the  oldest  specimens  of  Arabic 
literature  which  we  possess  are  not  more  ancient  than  the 
century  before  Mohammed.  These  exhibit  a  highly  culti- 
vated language  ;  the  syntax  is  regular,  the  inflections  are 
richly  varied,  and  the  vocabulary  is  abundant ;  they  also 
show  a  refined  musical  art.  It  is  evident,  that  this  perfec- 
tion can  have  been  attained  only  by  degrees ;  it  is  probably 
to  be  ascribed  to  the  rival  efforts  of  lyric  bards  of  different 
Arab  tribes.  One  result. of  these  poetic  efforts  seems  to 
have  been,  to  make  the  peculiar  expressions  of  each  tribe 

*  Hartmann's  Forschungen,  p.  649. 


340  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

a  part  of  the  authorized  language  of  the  other ;  a  common 
language  of  Uterature  being  thus,  to  some  extent,  created, 
while  at  the  same  time  dialectical  differences  distinguished 
the  ordinary  spoken  language  of  the  tribes.  It  thus  ap- 
pears, that  the  Arabic  language,  prior  to  Mohammed's 
time,  was  already  tending  to  a  fixed  form  for  use  in  literary 
productions.  The  Koran,  as  you  well  know,  was  finally 
written  out  by  order  of  the  Khalif  Othman  in  the  dialect 
of  the  Koreishites,  who  were  the  dominant  tribe  in  Mo- 
hammed's day,  and  that  to  which  he  himself  belonged. 
Their  dialect  also  had,  it  is  probable,  become  the  literary 
standard,  by  appropriating  to  itself  a  larger  measure  than 
other  tribes  of  that  culture  which  poetic  rivalry  put  within 
the  reach  of  all.  But  it  is  quite  plain,  that  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  Koran  rather  depressed  and  restricted  literary 
effort  among  the  Arabs.  In  style,  it  is  far  from  being  as 
rich  and  varied  as  the  productions  of  the  earlier  poets ;  and 
yet  it  would  have  been  presumption  to  think  of  surpassing 
it  in  language,  or  manner,  since  the  superexcellence  of  its 
composition  was  claimed  by  Mohammed  as  an  argument 
for  its  inspiration.  Now  came  in,  also,  the  influence  of 
the  grammarians,  who,  though  they  refer  to  the  earlier 
poets,  yet  prove  every  thing  by  the  Koran ;  all  soi'ts  of  pre- 
tences are  resorted  to  by  them  to  make  out,  in  every  case, 
that  the  language  of  their  Sacred  Book  is  without  fault. 
To  this  is  to  be  added,  that  all  the  learning  of  the  Arabs  is 
founded  in  some  respect  upon  the  Koran  :  this  book  became 
the  First  Class  Book,  so  to  speak,  in  all  schools.  The  Arab 
mind  having  moved  in  a  sphere  so  circumscribed,  since  the 
promulgation  of  the  Koran,  ever  turning  to  that  as  in  prayer 
the  Mohammedan  ever  faces  the  Kibleh,  it  is  true  that  the 
written  Arabic  has  been  very  little  changed  from  that  time 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  341 

to  this.  Even  the  preservation  of  the  ancient  pronuncia- 
tion has  been  provided  for,  in  the  reading  of  the  Koran, 
by  the  perpetuation  of  the  rules  of  early  Koran-readers,  in 
a  special  department  of  the  schools.  There  would  seem 
to  be  a  strong  presumption,  that,  whenever  a  body  of  sacred 
literature  exists  which  has  been  transmitted  down  from  a 
turning  period  in  the  progress  of  a  nation's  civilization,  and 
a  class  of  men  devoted  to  its  study,  the  litei-ary  language 
will  not  deviate  from  the  model  of  the  sacred  book.  This 
might  be  illustrated  by  the  case  of  the  Sanscrit,  which, 
until  within  a  few  years,  was  even  spoken  by  the  Brahmins 
in  its  classic  form  ;  and  which,  as  written,  has  changed  very 
little,  except  in  certain  works  where  caprice  seems  to  have 
driven  the  fancy  mad,  since  its  classic  age.  May  it  not 
also  be  true,  that  the  separation  of  a  written  from  a  spoken 
language  favoi's  the  preservation,  generally,  of  the  ancient 
purity  of  the  former? 

"  The  ordinary  language  of  social  intercourse,  with  the 
Arabs,  must  have  been  affected  already  as  soon  as  it  came 
to  be  used  by  foreign  nations,  upon  whom  it  was  forced,  or 
who  adopted  it  with  the  religion  of  the  Prophet  ;  though,  in 
the  palmy  days  of  Islamism,  the  Moslem  schools  would  tend 
to  check  this  foreign  influence.  But  it  received  still  greater 
modifications  in  consequence  of  the  less  general  diffusion 
of  instruction,  and  the  diminished  stimulus  to  learning,  and 
the  irruptions  of  barbarians  into  Mohammedan  countries 
after  the  decline  of  the  Khalifate.  The  peculiarities  of 
the  spoken  Arabic  consist  chiefly  in  the  intermixture  of 
foreign  words,  and  in  abbreviations  of  pronunciation,  by 
which  some  of  the  more  delicate  distinctions  of  grammati- 
cal form  in  the  written  Arabic  are  lost.  Yet  I  suppose  it  to 
29* 


342  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

be  a  fact,  that  the  Koran  is  equally  intelligible  to  all  who 
speak  the  Arabic." 

It  may  be  added,  that  the  circumstances  of  the  Syrians 
and  Arabians  were  very  different  from  those  of  the  He- 
brews. The  former  passed  through  many  stages  of  culti- 
vation. They  appropriated  to  themselves  Greek  science, 
and  were  compelled  to  borrow  many  scientific  terms,  and 
thus  endanger  the  purity  of  their  language.  The  Arabians, 
too,  entered  on  a  career  of  conquest,  subjugating  the  na- 
tions from  Spain  almost  to  China.  How  different  was  the 
condition  of  the  Hebrews  from  the  days  of  Joshua  to  Jo- 
siah  !  and  how  almost  infinitely  less  exposed  to  change  was 
the  Hebrew  language  than  its  sister  dialect ! 

VI.  The  Command  of  God  in  Respect  to  the  Destruc- 
tion OF  THE  CaNAANITES  VINDICATED. 

There  are  many  clear  indications,  that  the  Author  of 
nature,  of  the  human  mind,  and  of  the  Scriptures,  is  one 
and  the  same  Being.  The  more  profoundly  we  study  the 
laws  which  regulate  the  material  universe  ;  the  more  closely 
we  examine  the  structure  and  operations  of  our  own  moral 
and  intellectual  constitution  ;  and  the  more  intimately  we 
become  acquainted  with  the  Bible  ;  the  more  convincing  will 
this  unity  of  authorship  in  them  all  appear. 

And  yet  these  various  I'evelations  which  God  has  made 
of  himself  often  seem  to  come  into  direct  conflict.  There 
appear  to  be  not  only  apparent  discrepancies,  but  positive 
contradictions.  The  course  of  nature  apparently  runs 
counter  to  the  written  revelation  ;  the  law  engraven  on  the 
tablet  of  the  heart  does  not  accord  with  that  on  the  tablet  of 
stone. 

Sometimes  our  misgivings  can  be  quieted  only  by  pre- 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  343 

sumptive  reasoning.  Difficulties  once  existed  which  have 
disappeared  ;  discrepancies  which  formerly  perplexed  the 
Christian  student  have  vanished.  The  works  and  wordof 
God,  once  on  various  points  discordant,  are  no  longer  so. 
Therefore  we  have  confident  hope  in  respect  to  existing 
difficulties.  Past  experience  on  this  subject  furnishes  pre- 
sumptive ground  for  future  reliance. 

On  no  topic  brought  forward  in  the  Pentateuch  has  great- 
er perplexity  been  felt  by  the  pious  mind,  than  in  relation 
to  the  command  of  God  to  destroy  the  inhabitants  of  Ca- 
naan ;  on  none  would  there  seem  to  be  a  more  startling 
contrai'iety  between  the  teachings  of  our  moral  nature  and 
those  of  the  Scriptures.  Here,  too,  deism  has,  in  all  ages, 
forged  one  of  its  principal  weapons.  English  infidelity,  the 
parent  of  much  of  the  Continental  scepticism,  has  adduced 
it  as  a  triumphant  argument  in  its  attack  on  revelation  ; 
and  the  impugners  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  our  own  day 
and  country,  have  urged  it  as  decisive  against  the  divine 
authority  of  patriarchs  and  prophets. 

It  may  not,  therefore,  be  unseasonable  to  examine  this 
point  as  fully  as  the  limits  which  we  have  prescribed  to 
ourselves  will  permit.  If  all  Scripture  be  given  by  inspi- 
ra^tion  of  God  ;  if  it  be  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof, 
for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness  ;  then  every 
obstacle  which  lies  in  the  way  of  its  influence  should,  as 
far  as  possible,  be  removed.  All  those  causes  which  occa- 
sion perplexity,  misgiving,  harassing  doubt,  or  which  fur- 
nish a  plausible  pretext  for  scepticism,  should  be  fairly  and 
fully  considered.  It  is  to  be  feared,  that  the  piety  of  some 
is  built  on  a  partial  reception  of  divine  truth,  on  what -they 
view,  subjectively,  to  be  the  instructions  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  distinct  from  those  of  the  Old.     Such  persons  do 


344  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

not  remember,  that,  if  the  declaration  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Apostles  respecting  Moses  and  the  prophets  be  not  admitted, 
then  the  whole  basis  of  the  new  dispensation  is  under- 
mined. All  the  declarations  of  Christ  are  to  be  received, 
or  else  all  are  to  be  rejected.  If  Moses  were  not  inspired, 
then  Peter  and  Paul  spake  not  as  the  Holy  Spirit  moved 
them. 

In  discussing  this  subject,  we  will  first  state  the  promi- 
nent objections  to  which  the  command  in  question  appears 
to  be  liable. 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  it  is  of  the  most  peremptory 
and  exclusive  character.  It  required  an  extirpation  of  the 
Canaanites,  root  and  branch.  Women  and  children,  the 
decrepit  man  as  well  as  the  armed  warrior,  were  to  be 
swept  away.  No  truce  was  to  be  made,  no  mercy  to  be 
shown  ;  it  was  excision,  without  mitigation  or  exception. 
The  more  speedy  and  universal  the  infliction,  the  more 
pleasing  to  Jehovah. 

Now  this  command  seems  to  come  into  sad  conflict  with 
some  of  the  original  and  most  benevolent  instincts  of  our 
nature.  It  would  seem  harshly  to  interfere  with  that  fellow- 
feeling  common  to  man,  to  blot  out  those  sensibilities 
which  are  weak  enough  at  the  best,  but  whose  agency  only, 
in  the  absence  of  revelation,  renders  human  life  tolerable. 
There  are  moments  in  the  existence  of  the  sternest  men, 
when  sentiments  of  tender  compassion  are  felt  towards 
the  most  forlorn  of  the  race,  because  they  share  in  our 
common  humanity.  Names  that  will  be  the  last  to  perish 
from  the  page  of  history,  are  those  whose  philanthropy  was 
most  comprehensive.  The  man  who  has  learned  to  look 
habitually  with  cordial  good-will  upon  the  feeblest  and  most 
degraded,  comes  the  nearest  to  Him  whose  great  object  on 
earth  was  to  reunite  the  family  of  man. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  345 

But  the  command  which  we  are  considering  would  seem 
to  repress  all  these  tendencies,  and  to  make  the  executors 
of  it  selfish,  malevolent,  and  ferocious.  In  order  to  culti- 
vate benevolent  dispositions,  we  must  perform  beneficent 
actions.  But  the  edict  of  Jehovah,  to  extirpate  the  Canaan- 
ites,  involved  the  necessity  of  inflicting  all  possible  injury. 
Could  philanthropy,  or  even  the  slightest  feelings  of  hu- 
manity, exist  in  such  scenes  ? 

It  was  the  maxim  of  a  stern  judge,  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
"  If  in  criminals  it  be  a  measuring  cast,  incline  to  mercy 
and  acquittal."  It  is  a  dictate  of  humanity  and  of  sound 
reason,  as  well  as  a  rule  of  the  courts,  that  it  is  better 
that  ten  guilty  persons  escape,  than  that  one  innocent  per- 
son should  suffer.  The  foundations  of  justice  are  more 
endangered  by  a  too  rigorous  enforcement,  than  by  an  ex- 
cessive leniency.  Yet,  in  the  extermination  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Canaan,  these  merciful  maxims  were  reversed  or 
confounded.  The  destruction  was  indiscriminate.  The 
whole  Canaanitish  race  were  involved  in  a  common^over- 
throw.  The  innocent  —  the  comparatively  innocent,  at 
least — suffered  the  same  fate  with  the  most  atrocious 
criminals. 

Again,  the  conquest  of  Canaan  would  seem  to  excuse, 
if  not  to  justify,  war,  and  war  in  its  more  offensive  forms. 
It  might  appear,  that  this  terrible  scourge  of  the  human 
race  would  not  receive  even  tacit  toleration  on  the  part  of 
the  kind  and  universal  Parent.  What,  then,  shall  be  said  of 
a  war  of  aggression,  of  foreign  conquest,  of  extermina- 
tion.'' The  battle-field,  when  two  armies  meet  in  deadly 
encounter,  is  not  the  most  sorrowful  spectacle  which  war 
presents.  The  combatants  are  hardened  soldiers.  The 
little  boys  who  once  played  before  their  father's  door  have 


346  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

become  bronzed  veterans.  They  are  familiarized  to  these 
fierce  strifes,  and  have  become  what  the  great  captain  of 
the  present  age  declares  soldiers  ought  to  be,  —  obedient 
machines,  without  a  personal  will  or  moral  feeling.  The 
most  promising  soldier  is  the  one  who  can  most  readily 
divest  himself  of  the  higher  attributes  of  man.  When 
such  men  fall  in  battle,  too,  there  is  often  no  bitterness  in 
death.  The  overwrought  passion  destroys  or  suspends  all 
sensibility  to  bodily  pain.  In  the  maddening  excitement, 
the  deadly  blow  has  been  inflicted,  moments,  possibly 
hours,  before  it  is  felt.  Death  on  the  battle-field  is  by  no 
means  always  the  king  of  terrors. 

War  is  seen  rather  in  the  storming  of  a  fort,  or  in  the 
sacking  of  a  town  ;  especially  in  those  few  preceding  hours 
which  concentrate  a  life  of  agonizing  expectation,  when 
the  faint  possibility  of  escape  or  rescue  every  moment 
becomes  weaker,  as  one  barrier  after  another  is  stormed. 
The  horrors  of  war  are  felt  when  the  wall  is  scaled,  or  the 
gate  burst  open.  Its  saddest  sight  is  the  domestic  hearth, 
reddened  with  blood,  or  the  little  child  mourning  on  the 
bosom  of  its  dying  mother,  —  scenes  in  which  imagination 
must  not  enter,  and  which  transform  earth  into  hell. 

Now  parts  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  the  book  of  Joshua  in 
particular,  are  a  history  of  the  sacking  of  cities,  of  the  pil- 
lage of  houses,  of  the  destruction  often  of  an  unarmed  and 
unresisting  population.  On  the  most  favorable  supposition, 
the  track  of  the  invading  forces  must  have  been  marked 
with  scenes  that  would  appall  every  heart,  except  that  of  a 
trained  warrior.  A  torrent  of  fire  rolled  over  those  fair 
fields  that  had  flowed  with  milk  and  honey. 

It  was  no  light  thing  that  would  justify  this  invasion.  No 
common  cause,  nothing  short  of  invincible  necessity,  would 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  347 

seem  to  furnish  adequate  grounds  for  the  infliction  of  such 
dire  calamities. 

Again,  this  command  seems  to  be  adverse  to  many  dec- 
larations found  in  the  Old  Testament,  even  in  the  earlier 
b  "ioks. 

The  general  rigor  of  the  Mosaic  system  is  abated  by 
many  kind  and  generous  provisions.  Not  a  few  gentle 
precepts  are  thrown  in  to  check  the  natural  selfishness  and 
cruelty  of  the  people.  Special  and  reiterated  directions 
were  given  to  the  Israelites  not  to  oppress  or  maltreat  the 
stranger,  the  Egyptian,  the  Edomite,  and  others.  The 
Pentateuch  is  not  destitute  of  those  gracious  preintimations 
of  mercy  towards  the  Gentiles,  the  full  benefits  of  which  the 
Prophet,  greater  than  Moses,  was  to  confer  on  the  whole  race. 

Now  why  should  the  Canaanites  be  excluded  from  these 
benevolent  provisions  ?  Why  should  they  be  devoted  to 
excision,  while  the  tyrannical  and  oppressing  Egyptians 
are  carefully  recommended  to  mercy  ? 

The  doctrine  of  personal  responsibility  is  often  and  plainly 
taught  in  the  Old  Testament.  "The  soul  that  sinneth,  it 
shall  die.  The  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father, 
neither  shall  the  father  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  son  ;  the 
righteousness  of  the  righteous  shall  be  upon  him,  and  the 
wickedness  of  the  wicked  shall  be  upon  him."  Now  this 
rule,  perfectly  reasonable,  was  not  observed,  it  is  said,  with 
the  Canaanites.  The  guiltless  son  did  bear  the  iniquity  of 
his  father.  The  aged  polytheist  and  his  innocent  grandson, 
who  could  not  discern  between  his  right  hand  and  his  left, 
were  involved  in  a  common  doom.  The  righteousness  of 
ten  righteous  men,  if  such  there  were,  did  not  save  even 
themselves,  much  less  the  cities  where  they  dwelt,  from 
destruction.     The   people   of   Nineveh,  the   cry   of  whose 


348  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

wickedness  went  up  to  heaven,  were  spared  partly,  it  should 
seem,  from  the  fact,  that  there  were  more  than  six  score 
thousand  persons  in  it  who  could  not  discern  between  good 
and  evil.  Were  the  Canaanites  worse  than  they  ?  Was 
this  doctrine  of  personal  responsibility  to  hold  in  every  case 
but  theirs  ? 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  the  destruction  of  the 
Canaanites  seems  to  be  adverse  to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of 
the  New  Testament.  Our  Lord  came  on  an  errand  of  good- 
will to  man  ;  not  to  destroy  human  life,  but  to  save  it ;  not 
to  call  down  fire  from  heaven,  but  to  heal  every  form  of 
bodily  disease  and  to  summon  the  dead  to  life.  The  Gospel 
breathes  a  spirit  of  the  profoundest  and  most  comprehensive 
charity.  No  one  can  lay  claim  to  its  blessings,  who  does 
not  heartily  love  his  enemies  and  do  good  to  his  bitterest 
foes.  Every  separating  wall,  national  distinction,  and  nar- 
row-minded or  sectarian  prejudice,  it  sweeps  away  for  ever. 
Universal  love  is  its  characteristic  mark ;  fervent  charity, 
the  most  honorable  badge  of  its  disciples. 

How  can  the  precepts  and  spirit  of  such  a  religion  be  rec- 
onciled with  the  invasion  of  Canaan  and  the  indiscriminate 
destruction  of  its  inhabitants .?  In  the  one  case,  provision 
is  made  for  the  utmost  care  and  tenderness  in  respect  to  the 
preservation  of  the  earthly  life  ;  in  the  other,  the  infliction  of 
the  greatest  possible  amount  of  pain  and  distress  is  positively 
commanded. 

The  principal  objection,  however,  which  has  been  urged 
against  the  extirpation  of  the  Canaanites,  relates  to  the  em- 
ployment of  human  agency  in  it.  If  the  country  were 
needed  by  the  Israelites ;  if  the  wickedness  of  the  people 
made  them  ripe  for  destruction ;  why  were  they  not,  it  is 
asked,  swept  off  by  famine  or  fire  .''     Why  were  they  not 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  349 

overwhelmed,  as  Sodom  was,  in  a  moment?  The  mystery 
of  this  summary  visitation  we  might  not  fully  fathom.  Yet 
its  awful  justice  we  should  be  constrained  to  adore.  But  if 
the  Almighty  intrusts  the  work  to  human  agents  ;  if  he 
commissions  an  army  to  ravage  the  land  ;  if  he  lays  male- 
dictions upon  them,  if  they  do  not  fully  perform  the  hard 
service;  if  he  summons  those  to  this  work  who  have  them- 
selves hardly  emerged  from  the  savage  state,  not  a  few 
of  them  as  ripe  for  ruin  as  any  whom  they  are  directed  to 
destroy  ;  —  then  an  unbridled  license  is  given  to  some  of  the 
worst  passions  of  our  nature  ;  temptations  are  spread  before 
man,  which,  it  should  seem,  are  irresistible.  He  is  divinely 
commissioned  to  do  that  which  he  cannot  perform  without 
committing  sin.  One  community  is  to  be  destroyed  by 
means  which  will  make  another  ripe  for  the  same  overthrow. 
What  more  fatal  school  of  vice  exists  than  the  camp  and 
the  battle-field .?  "  God,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  is  not  tempted 
of  evil,  neither  tempteth  he  any  man."  Yet  God  commands 
that  to  be  done,  whose  certain  tendency  seems  to  be  the  in- 
dulgence of  vindictive  and  cruel  passions.  Consequently, 
either  the  moral  character  of  God  is  impaired,  or  a  consid- 
erable part  of  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua  is  not  inspired. 
There  is  no  other  alternative.  The  eternal  foundations  of 
justice  are  undermined,  or  those  books  are  spurious,  or 
merely  human  productions.  We  must  give  up  either  the 
absolute  perfection  of  the  Almighty,  or  a  part  of  his  sup- 
posed revelation.  The  law  written  on  the  heart  stands  in 
irreconcilable  hostility  to  that  on  the  written  page. 

Various  methods  have  been  proposed  to  remove  these 
formidable  objections.  The  friends  of  the  Bible  have  some- 
times resorted  to  expedients  by  which  the  difficulties  in  the 
case  do  not  seem  to  be  fully  appreciated.     In  their  anxiety 

VOL.  II.  30 


350  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

to  vindicate  the  inspired  page,  they  have  multiplied  argu- 
ments which  are  rather  plausible,  than  sound  or  pertinent. 

1.  The  attempt  is  sometimes  made  to  remove  these  ob- 
jections by  an  appeal  to  the  sovereignty  and  power  of  God. 
He  made  man.  The  nations  of  the  earth  are  the  products 
of  his  power;  they  lie  in  his  hands  as  the  clay  in  the  hands 
of  the  potter.  He  holds  the  keys  of  death  and  of  life.  If 
he  may  create  when  and  how  he  pleases,  then  he  may 
recall  or  destroy  what  he  has  created.  The  life  of  the 
Canaanites  was  a  mere  trust.  The  Lender  might  justly 
demand  it  at  his  own  discretion. 

This  method  of  solution,  however,  overlooks  the  main 
difficulty,  —  the  manner  in  which  the  destruction  was  ac- 
complished,—  the  employment  of  human  agency.  In  the 
assertion  of  his  absolute  power  over  man's  life,  the  Almighty 
would  not,  we  are  sure,  impair  his  own  attribute  of  justice, 
or  infringe,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  moral  sense  of  his 
creatures.  These  must  be  preserved  inviolate.  Far  be  it 
from  God  to  pervert  or  confound  the  moral  sentiments  of 
his  creatures,  or  to  sanction  unlawful  means  for  the  attain- 
ment of  desirable  ends.  The  mere  fact,  that  he  has  an  un- 
controlled right  over  human  life,  cannot  authorize  acts  which 
do  not  commend  themselves  to  the  enlightened  judgment 
of  his  creatures.  He  has  made  them  capable  of  seeing  and 
approving  the  rightfulness  of  his  actions  and  commands. 

2.  Another  way  in  which  it  has  been  proposed  to  remove 
the  difficulty  is  by  representing  it  as  designed  for  the  trial 
of  man's  faith.  The  subject  is  confessedly  encompassed 
with  objections.  It  therefore  presents  an  occasion  for  the 
exercise  of  profound  reverence  and  of  unquestioning  faith. 
It  was  intended,  like  other  "  hard  things  "  in  the  Scriptures, 
to  be  a  test  of  moral  character.     The  right  use  is  made  of 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  351 

it  when  we  regard  it  as  an  inexplicable  mystery.  We  must 
humbly  adore  rather  than  curiously  examine.  It  is  an  im- 
portant part  of  our  moral  probation  quietly  to  acquiesce  in 
the  wisdom  of  Him  whose  path  is  often  in  the  mighty  wa- 
ters. 

But  it  ought  also  to  be  remembered,  that  the  rewards  of 
faith  come  not  with  an  indolent  reception  of  the  truth. 
Eesignation,  prior  to  inquiry,  is  not  a  duty.  Faith  cometh 
by  hearing,  by  reading,  and  by  meditation ;  without  these 
it  is  dead.  The  events  of  Providence,  and  the  difficulties 
which  we  meet  in  the  Scriptures,  are  for  the  trial  of  our 
intellect  as  well  as  of  our  moral  powers.  Do  we  feel  inter- 
est enough  in  these  difficulties  patiently  to  examine  them  .'* 
Are  we  willing  to  task  our  powers  on  these  highest  of  all 
questions  ?  The  fatal  sin  of  the  ancient  Israelites  consisted 
in  the  fact,  that  they  would  not  consider  the  operations  of 
God's  hand.  They  were  inclined  slothfully  to  neglect  to 
inquire  into  the  reasons  of  his  terrible  judgments.  The 
"hard  things"  which  are  found  in  the  Scriptures,  were  in- 
tended for  "  our  learning.'"  Some  of  them  can  be  solved 
by  earnest  and  reverent  investigation.  It  is  the  office,  the 
noblest  office,  of  reason,  to  institute  such  an  inquiry.  It  is 
only  after  we  have  made  these  efTorts  that  we  are  author- 
ized to  rest,  and  tranquilly  appropriate  to  ourselves  the  prom- 
ised blessings  of  an  implicit  faith. 

Besides,  this  method  of  removing  the  difficulty  will  have 
no  weight  with  a  sceptical  opposer.  He  has  no  faith  to  be 
tried.  Our  only  course  is  to  reason  with  him  in  respect 
to  the  objections  that  he  propounds.  We  are  to  contend 
earnestly  for  the  divine  authority  of  every  part  of  the  Bible. 
It  is  our  duty  to  search  out  and  candidly  present  the  best 
explanations  which  the  nature  of  each  particular  case  ad- 


353  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

mits.  One  of  the  principal  duties  of  Christians  is,  to  vindi- 
cate the  ways  of  God  to  men,  and  to  convince  gainsayers ; 
not  by  calling  upon  them  to  believe  without  evidence,  but 
by  showing  them  what  the  evidence  is,  and  that  to  reject  it 
is  to  act  in  contrariety  to  their  own  reason  and  judgment. 

It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  this  can  never  be  done  per- 
fectly ;  that  there  is  a  depth  that  no  line  can  fathom,  a  limit 
beyond  which  is  darkness  impenetrable  ;  and  that  the  ob- 
jector will  as  really  need  faith,  or  a  believing  spirit,  as  any 
other  man.  This  is  undoubtedly  true.  Moral  subjects  do 
not  admit  of  mathematical  evidence.  On  every  doctrine 
of  the  Bible,  on  every  dispensation  of  Providence,  difficul- 
ties will  rest  which  no  wit  of  man  can  solve.  And  yet 
they  are  accompanied  with  sufficient  evidence.  Every 
considerate  man  will  admit  them,  notwithstanding  their 
difficulties.  So  he  acts  in  a  thousand  other  cases.  If  rea- 
sons in  favor  of  a  pai'ticular  course  preponderate  over  the 
objections,  then  he  is  as  really  under  obligations  to  pursue 
that  course  as  if  no  difficulties  existed.  A  doctrine  of  the 
Bible  is  attended  with  some  real  objections,  yet  the  weight 
of  evidence  is  in  its  favor ;  therefore,  whoever  rejects  it 
pursues  a  course  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  pernicious.  A 
command  of  God  is  accompanied  with  some  unexplainable 
mysteries ;  yet  if  it  has  solid  arguments  in  its  favor,  those 
mysteries  constitute  no  real  objection. 

3.  The  extraordinary  wickedness  of  the  Canaanites  is 
commonly  adduced  as  an  adequate  justification  of  their 
overthrow.  That  they  had  attained  to  a  bad  eminence  in 
crime,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  Apostle's  fearful  por- 
traiture of  heathenism,  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  might  find  its  prototypes  in  certain  insulated 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament,  referring  to  the  Canaan- 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  353 

ites.  The  very  soil  is  represented  as  impatient  of  the 
abominations  of  which  it  was  compelled  to  take  cogni- 
zance. The  people  had  reached  that  last  stage  of  moral 
corruption  in  which  they  appeared  devoid  of  natural  in- 
stincts. That  brief  sentence,  "  They  caused  their  children 
to  pass  through  the  fire  unto  Moloch,"  expresses  about  all 
which  the  imagination  can  conceive  both  of  impiety  and 
inhumanity.  It  combines  the  essence  of  idolatry  and  fe- 
rocity. 

Still,  this  fact  does  not  seem  to  remove  the  serious  ob- 
jection which  is  adduced  against  the  method  by  which  the 
Canaanites  were  destroyed.  If  the  earth  had  become  weary 
of  those  who  trod  upon  her  bosom,  why  did  she  not  open 
her  mouth  and  swallow  them  up  ?  Men  who  emulated  the 
sin  of  Sodom  deserved  her  fiery  end.  It  should  seem,  that 
an  immediate  judgment  from  Heaven  would  in  a  moment 
rid  the  land  of  transgressors  so  abandoned.  Still,  the  indi- 
rect, the  mediate  course  was  preferred.  Human  agents 
were  employed  as  the  ministers  of  vengeance.  Hence  we 
must  seek  for  other  grounds  on  which  to  vindicate  the  jus- 
tice of  God.  The  simple  wickedness  of  the  Canaanites 
does  not  seem  to  authorize  the  mode  for  their  destruction 
which  was  adopted. 

4.  It  is  argued  by  some,  that  the  children  of  Israel  were 
the  lawful  heirs  to  the  soil  of  Canaan,  and  that,  in  taking 
possession  of  the  country,  they  were  merely  asserting  their 
legal  and  indisputable  rights.  The  Almighty  had,  in  a 
solemn  manner,  and  on  repeated  occasions,  promised  it  to 
the  patriarchs.  The  Proprietor  of  all  things  had  given  only 
a  lease  of  it  for  a  few  generations  to  the  Canaanites.  The 
time  was  now  come  when  the  lawful  owners  must  take  pos- 
session of  the  long  unreclaimed  inheritance.  The  legal 
30* 


354  AUTHENTICITY   AND    GENUINENESS 

rights,   which   had   been  in   a  kind  of  abeyance,  must  be 
forcibly  asserted. 

But  tliere  would  seem  to  be  but  slight  foundation  for  an 
hypothesis  of  this  nature.  The  Canaanitish  tribes  had  in 
very  ancient  times  acquired  a  right  to  the  soil  which  was 
everywhere  acknowledged,  and  by  none  more  readily  and 
fully  than  by  the  Hebrew  patriarchs.  Abraham  confessed 
to  the  children  of  Heth,  that  he  was  a  mere  stranger  and 
sojourner  in  their  country,  and  that  he  could  acquire  a  right 
in  the  soil  only  by  fair  purchase.  Accordingly,  he  bought 
a  piece  of  land  for  a  family  burial-place.  In  like  manner, 
Jacob  purchased  a  parcel  of  a  field  where  he  had  spread 
his  tent,  at  the  hand  of  the  children  of  Hamor,  for  a  hun- 
dred pieces  of  money.  In  short,  the  Canaanites  seem  to 
have  had  all  that  right  to  the  country  which  can  be  acquired 
in  any  case.  It  had  been  theirs  from  time  immemorial. 
They  were  in  full  possession  of  it  before  Abraham  had  left 
his  Chaldean  mountains.  Portions  of  it  had  been  bought 
and  sold  in  innumerable  instances.  Even  if  their  original 
]"ight  were  defective,  of  which  there  is  no  evidence,  long 
and  undisputed  possession  would  have  given  them  an  ample 
title. 

We  come  now  to  what,  in  our  opinion,  may  be  consid- 
ered a  satisfactory  vindication  of  the  benevolence  and  jus- 
tice of  God  in  relation  to  this  question.  Men,  or  any  created 
beings,  may  be  innocently  employed  in  inflicting  deserved 
punishment  on  their  fellow-creatures.  The  service  imposes 
upon  them  no  necessity  of  committing  sin.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  execution  of  such  a  command,  on  the  part  of 
man,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  maintenance  of  sound 
moral  feelings  and  a  benevolent  temper. 


OK    THE    PENTATEUCH.  355 

1.  This  point  receives  some  confirmation  from  what  ap- 
pears to  be  implied,  if  not  directly  taught,  in  the  Scriptures, 
namely,  that  creatures  of  a  higher  order  than  man  have 
been,  and  will  be,  employed  in  executing  the  wrath  of  God 
on  their  disobedient  companions,  and  on  sinners  of  the  human 
race.  The  Scriptures  contain  several  intimations,  hints,  or 
foreshadowings  of  this  truth,  as  well  as  direct  assertions  of 
it.  Angels  were  employed  in  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  Subsequently,  the  Assyrian  army  fell  beneath 
the  sword  of  the  destroying  angel.  In  the  last  great  day, 
the  Son  of  Man  shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  oifend,  and  them 
that  do  iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire. 
Now  God  is  not  tempted  of  evil,  neither  tempteth  he  man 
or  angel.  This  hard  duty  imposed  upon  the  creature  is  not 
necessarily  sinful.  The  angel  might  cherish  vindictive 
feelings,  and  he  might  not.  He  may  execute  these  sen- 
tences of  Divine  Justice  without  one  wrong  emotion.  And 
what  is  possible  for  him  is  possible  for  man.  What  may 
be  done  without  sin  by  the  one  may  be  by  the  other. 
What  would  lay  upon  either  a  natural  necessity  to  sin 
would  not  be  imposed  upon  either.  God's  command  to 
men  is  not  graduated  according  to  the  sinfulness  of  the 
creature.  It  may  involve  a  severe  temptation  to  evil,  but  if 
there  be  no  invincible  necessity  in  the  case,  then  it  may  be 
right.  The  prophet  Samuel  destroyed  a  prince  of  the 
Amalekites  in  a  terrible,  and  what  some  would  pronounce 
a  shocking,  manner.  He  did  it,  there  is  every  reason  to 
suppose,  in  accordance  with  the  Divine  will,  and  without 
committing  sin  in  the  act.  On  the  contrary,  for  not  doing 
it,  Saul  fell  under  the  Divine  displeasure,  and  was  deprived 
of  his  kingdom  and  his  life.     Now  what  was  practicable 


:}56  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

for  Samuel,  and  a  virtuous  act  in  his  case,  was  so  for  every 
other  Israelite. 

2.  We  should  be  led  to  infer  the  rightfulness  of  the  com- 
mand from  the  ordinary  operations  of  Divine  Providence. 
Individual  men  and  nations,  in  numberless  instances,  have 
been  made  the  instruments  of  inflicting  terrible  evils  on 
other  individuals  and  communities.  Doubtless  in  most  of 
these  cases  they  have  done  it  in  order  to  gratify  their  own 
selfish  passions.  They  were  unwilling  instruments  in  the 
hands  of  God.  Through  them  he  made  the  wrath  of  other 
men,  and  of  other  nations,  to  praise  him.  An  immense 
amount  of  good  was  accomplished,  yet  it  was  in  direct  con- 
trariety to  their  intentions.  But  has  it  been  so  in  every  in- 
stance ?  Has  no  man  or  community  consciously  and  will- 
ingly executed  the  commands  of  God?  Have  all,  who 
have  been  the  instruments  of  the  Almighty,  been  forced 
into  His  service  against  their  will  ?  Has  selfish  or  malig- 
nant passion  been  in  every  instance  the  controlling  motive  ? 
Were  the  Waldenses,  when  they  rolled  down  the  rocks 
from  their  Alpine  fastnesses  on  the  heads  of  their  blood- 
thirsty foes,  performing  an  act  out  of  which,  and  against  its 
nature,  God,  in  his  wonder-working  providence,  educed 
good,  while  these  wretched  wanderers  were  only  gratifying 
their  personal  ill-will  ?  No !  Every  true  protestant  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  would  affirm 
that  the  deed  was  right  in  every  aspect  of  it.  So  also  when 
the  people  of  the  Low  Countries  rose  up,  and  burst  open  the 
Inquisition,  and  expelled  the  Spaniard  from  the  country,  at 
the  cost  of  rivers  of  blood,  was  it  a  sinful  instrumentality  ? 
Were  the  feelings  actuating  these  oppressed  Netherlanders 
necessarily  wrong  ?  No  !  is  the  unanimous  verdict  of 
every  impartial  historian  in  Christendom. 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  357 

But  however  it  may  be  in  these  cases,  there  is  one  in- 
stance fully  in  point,  and  where  we  cannot  be  mistaken. 
God  commissioned  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  to  destroy  Baby- 
Ion  and  deliver  his  chosen  people.  He  called  him  by  name 
more  than  a  hundred  years  before  his  birth,  and  designated 
him  to  the  work.  This  Divine  commission  was  made 
known  to  the  Persian  king,  either  by  direct  revelation,  or  by 
'Isaiah's  prophecy,  so  that  he  acted,  as  he  himself  informs 
us,  as  the  conscious  and  willing  instrument  of  Jehovah. 
Babylon  was,  therefore,  destroyed  by  him  in  obedience  to 
the  will  of  Heaven,  and  not  simply  to  carry  out  his  plans  of 
conquest.  He  acknowledges  the  authority  of  Jehovah,  and 
earnestly  promotes  the  restoration  of  the  exiles.  Here,  then, 
is  a  case  precisely  analogous  to  that  of  the  Canaanites,  and 
against  which,  so  far  as  we  know,  no  objection  is  urged. 
Yet  the  destruction  of  Babylon  involved  an  amount  of  suf- 
fering, an  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  innocent  and 
guilty,  which,  perhaps,  transcended  all  that  was  inflicted  on 
the  people  of  Canaan. 

From  this  and  other  analogous  instances,  we  may  cer- 
tainly infer,  that  human  agents  may  be  innocently  employed, 
and  consciously  so  to  themselves,  in  administering  punish- 
ment on  sinning  nations  and  individuals.  This  would  be  a 
natural  presumption  from  the  general  course  of  Divine 
Providence.  If  the  fearful  tragedy  enacted  within  the  walls 
of  Babylon  was  right ;  if  the  scenes  which  were  witnessed 
in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  and  the  glens  of  Scotland,  when 
those  who  had  been  hunted  like  sheep  on  the  mountains 
rose  on  their  merciless  foes,  cannot  be  proved  to  be  wrong  ; 
then  the  tribes  of  Canaan  might  be  destroyed  in  consistency 
with  the  moral  attributes  of  God. 
^    3.  The  position  may  be   fully  established  from  the  rec- 


358  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

ognition  of  civil  a-overnment  in  the  New  Testament.  Rul- 
ers  are  ordained  of  God.  Whoever  resisteth  them  re- 
sisteth  the  ordinance  of  God,  no  matter  what  the  form  of 
government  may  be.  Now  the  very  statement  of  the  case 
shows  that  it  is  tlieir  right  and  duty  to  use  forcible  means, 
if  necessary,  in  administering  the  government.  They  bear 
not  the  sword  in  vain.  They  are  a  terror  to  evil-doers. 
But  if  this  were  not  directly  asserted,  it  would  follow  from 
the  nature  of  the  case.  If  a  command  be  lawful,  all  those 
steps  which  are  necessary  in  order  to  execute  that  com- 
mand are  lawful.  The  indispensable  means,  as  well  as  the 
end,  are  sanctioned.  Now  it  is  the  duty  of  the  magistrate, 
made  so  by  the  word  of  God,  to  suppress  an  insurrection, 
peaceably  if  he  can,  forcibly  if  he  must.  In  this  popular 
tumult,  a  city  or  province  may  be  involved.  To  suppress 
it  may  demand  a  great  sacrifice  of  life,  both  of  the  innocent 
as  well  as  the  guilty.  It  may  be  utterly  impracticable  to 
make  the  discrimination.  Every  instance  of  this  kind  has 
doubtless  led  to  the  destruction  of  persons  who  were  not 
guilty.  Yet  the  magistrate  was  not  in  fault.  He  could  not 
maintain  his  authority,  and  put  an  end  to  the  mischief,  with- 
out storming  a  city.  Is  he  to  desist  because  of  the  hazard 
to  the  innocent  women  and  children  within  its  walls .''  Cer- 
tainly not,  if  human  government  is  to  be  maintained.  The 
right  and  the  duty  of  maintaining  this,  the  New  Testament 
positively  affirms.  Now  no  government  has  ever  existed 
on  earth  for  any  length  of  time,  which  has  not  found  it 
necessary,  in  the  execution  of  its  orders,  to  inflict  suffering 
even  unto  death  on  the  innocent,  as  well  as  on  the  guilty. 
Without  the  power  to  do  this,  it  could  not  exist.  But  if  it 
were  wrong,  then  the  Bible  has  been  virtually  in  opposition 
to  all  actual  governments,  or,  in  effect,  in  opposition  to  its 


OF  THE  PENTATEUCH.  359 

own  precepts.  It  follows,  that  the  children  of  Israel  were 
not  necessarily  committing  sin  in  extirpating  the  Canaanites, 
though  innocent  children,  and  others  not  specially  in  fault, 
were  involved  in  the  common  doom. 

4.  It  may  be  shown,  from  its  effects  on  the  Israelites, 
that  the  infliction  of  suffering  and  death  on  one's  fellow- 
creatures  does  not  of  necessity  lead  to  sin.  It  was  the 
means  of  salutary  moral  discipline.  Though  painful,  it 
produced  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness. 

It  was,  doubtless,  a  hard  task  for  Sir  Matthew  Hale  to 
pronounce  some  of  the  sentences  which  he  did  pronounce, 
as  they  carried  extreme  sorrow  and  wretchedness  into  many 
families.  Yet  who  can  doubt  but  that  the  judge  was  emi- 
nently conscientious,  that  his  decisions  were  generally  just, 
and  that  they  contributed  to  his  own  moral  improvement.' 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  General  Washington  assumed 
the  command  of  the  American  army  as  a  matter  of  duty. 
He  had  no  love  for  war  or  military  distinction.  The  sad 
scenes  through  which  he  passed  did  not  harden  his  heart, 
nor  enkindle  any  revengeful  or  malignant  passions.  His 
recorded  sayings  and  his  subsequent  life  most  fully  confirm 
this.  Yet  his  was  a  fearful  path.  He  unsheathed  the 
sword  against  the  native  land  of  his  ancestors.  He  took  up 
'arms  against  his  own  kindred.  He,  more  than  any  other 
American,  was  the  cause  of  unutterable  distress  to  many 
families  left  without  husband  or  father. 

Not  altogether  dissimilar  was  the  situation  of  the  leader 
of  the  Israelites  in  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  He  accepted 
his  commission  in  obedience  to  the  command  of  God.  He 
and  his  immediate  associates  performed  what  they  consid- 
ered to  be  an  unquestionable  duty.  They  found  in  their 
career  no  invincible  temptations  to  the  indulgence  of  mali- 


360  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

cious  or  cruel  passions.  The  work  was  conscientiously 
undertaken,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  intimation,  that  the 
result  was  in  any  degree  unfavorable  to  the  character  of 
these  leaders.  The  contrary  is  perfectly  obvious.  A  firmer 
trust  in  God,  a  more  entire  devotedness  to  his  service,  illus- 
trate the  last  days  of  him  on  whom  the  mantle  of  the  law- 
giver descended.  He  was  thus  counted  worthy  to  stand  in 
that  illustrious  company,  "  who  through  faith  subdued  king- 
doms, escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness 
were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight 
the  armies  of  the  aliens." 

Now  what  did  not  prove  an  incitement  to  sin  in  the  lead- 
ers, could  not  necessarily  be  so  to  the  mass  of  the  soldiers. 
If  the  one  party  escaped  the  fiery  trial  unharmed,  the 
other  might  escape.  That  which  strengthened  the  virtuous 
principle,  or  increased  faith  in  God  in  one  man,  might  ac- 
complish the  same  in  ten  or  one  hundred  individuals,  acting 
in  similar  circumstances. 

What  now  was  the  great  moral  effect  which  God  intend- 
ed to  produce  on  the  minds  of  the  Israelites  ?  It  was  evi- 
dently this,  to  awaken  in  them  the  deepest  abhorrence  of 
idolatry,  a  detestation  of  the  worship  of  false  gods,  an  in- 
extinguishable hatred  of  its  untold  cruelties.  Now  the  de- 
struction of  the  Canaanites  by  an  immediate  Divine  judg- 
ment could  not  have  made  the  lesson  so  impressive.  The 
Israelites  might  have  been  filled  with  astonishment  in  see- 
ing God's  wrath  descending,  as  it  did  on  Sodom,  in  a  storm 
of  fire.  They  might  have  been  overwhelmed  with  terror, 
as  some  of  their  fathers  were  when  the  earth  opened  her 
mouth  and  swallowed  up  Korah  and  his  company  ;  and  yet, 
in  the  space  of  a  month  or  a  year,  they  might  have  been 
ripe  for  the  same  rebellion  and  the  same  end.     A  slower 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  361 

process,  a  more  detailed  exhibition  of  God's  punitive  justice, 
was  needed.  Idolatry  must  be  seen  in  its  horrid  particu- 
lars. No  impression  could  be  so  deep  as  that  made  by 
personal  observation.  Long-continued  inspection  of  the 
pagan  rites  must  have  taught  lessons  that  could  never  be 
effaced.  "  Here,"  the  invading  army  might  say,  "  the 
Supreme  God  was  publicly  dethroned  in  mock  solemnity  ; 
yonder,  in  that  valley,  Moloch  was  worshipped, 

'  besmeared  with  blood 
Of  human  sacrifice  and  parent's  tears  ' ; 

on  that  high  hill,  under  that  lofty  oak,  we  saw  abominations 
practised,  for  which  happily  we  have  no  name.  The  bes- 
tiality of  Sodom  infected  the  land.  The  very  soil  seemed 
to  cry  aloud  for  purification,  and  the  air  itself  loathed  the 
corruption  that  it  was  compelled  to  sustain."  *   , 

In  such  circumstances,  much  of  the  horror  which  com- 
monly accompanies  warlike  scenes  would  disappear.  The 
dreadful  human  sacrifices  offered  up  by  the  Mexicans, 
greatly  diminish  the  sympathy  which  we  should  otherwise 
feel  for  them  when  attacked  by  Cortes.  Those  who  de- 
molished the  Bastile  in  Paris,  and  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion in  Spain,  were  really  laborers  in  the  cause  of  humanity, 
though  human  life  was  to  some  extent  sacrificed.  The  He- 
brews—  worshippers  of  one  God  andtaught  to  hold  idolatry 
in  the  greatest  abhorrence  —  might  regard   themselves  as 

*  The  moral  corruption  of  the  descendants  of  some  of  the  Canaan- 
itish  tribes  that  were  spared,  e.  g.  the  Carthaginians,  was  i:)roverbial 
throughout  the  pagan  world.  Increasing  refinement  had  almost  anni- 
hilated among  other  nations  the  cruel  practice  of  offering  human  sacri- 
fices, but  nothing  could  prevail  upon  the  Carthaginians  to  abandon  it, 
though  thereby  tlicy  became  an  abhorrence  to  all  civilized  men.  The 
licentiousness  of  the  Syrians  was  equally  proverbial  with  their  cruelty. 
See  Hengstenbcrg,  Beitrage,  II.  506. 

VOL.  11.  31  • 


362  AUTHENTICITY    AND    GENUINENESS 

innocent  executioners  of  a  richly  deserved  punishment.  A 
virtuous  indignation  might  have  been  the  predominant  feel- 
ing in  their  breasts.  Every  sentiment  of  compassion  to- 
wards the  Canaanites  must  have  been  shocked,  if  not  wholly 
paralyzed,  by  the  cruel  and  obscene  rites,  the  proofs  or  the 
actual  performance  of  which  they  were  often  compelled  to 
witness.  They  were  not  dealing  with  personal  foes,  nor 
gratifying  private  malice.  They  were  the  appointed  min- 
isters of  Him  whose  peculiar  glory  the  people  of  Canaan 
were  foully  desecrating.  The  invading  army  were  under 
no  more  necessity  of  indulging  in  personal  ill-will  or  cruelty, 
than  the  individual  judge  or  magistrate  of  the  present  day, 
when  called  to  pronounce  or  execute  the  sentences  of  the 
law.  If  the  temptation  to  sin  were  greater  in  the  former 
case,  so  would  the  rewards  of  successfully  resisting  it  be 
correspondingly  greater.  That  the  temptation  in  question 
was  resisted,  we  have  incontrovertible  evidence  from  the 
history.  The  age  of  Joshua  was  the  golden  age  of  the 
Jewish  people  in  respect  to  true  piety,  or  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  God.  In  confirmation  of  this,  we  might  advert  to 
the  circumstances  and  happy  settlement  of  the  difficulty 
which  occurred  between  the  warriors  of  the  two  tribes,  and 
the  half  tribe  whose  abode  was  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan 
and  their  brethren  who  lived  west  of  the  river.  Both  par- 
ties were  actuated  by  fraternal  feelings  and  by  a  high  regard 
for  the  true  religion.  So,  in  Judges  ii.  7,  there  is  the  fol- 
lowing decisive  testimony  :  "  And  the  people  served  the 
Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days  of  the  elders 
that  outlived  Joshua,  who  had  seen  all  the  great  works  of 
the  Lord,  that  he  did  for  Israel."  This  passage  proves  that 
the  people  came  out  of  the  war  true  and  zealous  worship- 
pers of  Jehovah,  and  it  also  indicates  the  manner  in  which 


OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  363 

they  maintained  their  integrity  and  derived  moral  benefit 
from  the  scenes  through  which  th^y  had  passed.  It  was  a 
holy  war  which  they  had  waged.  They  were  the  soldiers 
of  the  Lord  of  hosts.  They  had  taken  up  arms  not  so 
much  against  human  life,  or  a  public  enemy,  as  against  a 
most  revolting  form  of  polytheism.  They  boasted  not  as 
if  their  own  arm  had  gotten  them  the  victory.  It  was  "  the 
great  works  of  the  Lord "  that  had  secured  the  triumph. 
The  stars  in  their  courses  fought  for  Israel.  For  them  the 
sun  had  stood  still  on  Gibeon  and  the  moon  in  the  valley  of 
Ajalon.  To  their  Almighty  Deliverer,  they  felt  disposed  to 
raise,  at  the  close  of  the  strife,  the  grateful  song  of  thanks- 
giving. 


THE  IMPRECATIONS  IN  THE  SCRIPTURES/ 


There  is  a  class  of  objections  against  the  divine  authority 
of  the  Bible,  which  relate  simply  to  matters  of  taste,  con- 
ventional usage,  national  custom,  or  Oriental  modes  of  feel- 
ing. A  sufficient  answer  to  objections  of  this  nature  is,  that 
if  the  Scriptures  had  been  conformed  to  modern  and  Euro- 
pean modes  and  tastes,  they  would,  in  the  same  degree, 
lose  one  of  the  principal  evidences  of  their  genuineness. 
The  local  coloring  about  them,  their  Asiatic  dress,  the  fig- 
ures of  speech  which  the  writers  employ,  assure  us  that  they 
are  the  men  whom  they  profess  to  be,  and  that  they  lived 
at  the  time,  and  in  the  countries,  in  which  they  assume  to 
have  lived.  The  seal  of  honesty  is  thus  affixed  to  them. 
We  feel  certain  that  they  are  men  of  truth.  This  species 
of  evidence,  though  incidental  and  undesigned,  is,  in  fact, 
one  of  the  most  important,  and  one  least  liable  to  be  coun- 
terfeited. Besides,  if  the  writers  had  undertaken  to  con- 
form to  what  we  understand  by  correct  taste  and  propriety 
in  forms  of  speech,  they  would  have  undertaken  an  imprac- 
ticable task.     The  standard  of  taste,  on   many   points,  is 

*  This  Essay  was  originally  published  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  for 
February,  1844. 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  365 

perpetually  changing.  In  respect  to  certain  matters,  there 
is  a  degree  of  fastidiousness  in  this  country,  which  does  not 
exist  in  the  higher  circles  in  Europe.  What  passes  current 
there  at  the  present  moment,  may  not  pass  so  one  hundred 
years  hence. 

Another  class  of  objections  to  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Bible,  resolves  itself  into  our  unavoidable  ignorance.  There 
are  certain  discrepancies  between  different  parts  of  the 
Scriptures,  small  for  the  most  part,  which  we  find  it  impos- 
sible wholly  to  reconcile,  because  we  have  not  the  requi- 
site information.  The  matter  was  perfectly  understood  at 
the  time  the  books  were  written,  but  some  link  in  the  chain 
of  evidence  has  disappeai'ed  ;  some  contemporary,  unin- 
spired writer  furnished  the  clew,  but  his  works  have  been 
lost,  and  we  are  necessarily  left  in  uncertainty.* 

This  objection,  however,  may  be  turned  into  an  argument 
in  favor  of  the  trustworthiness  of  the  writers.  About  all 
honest  authors  there  is  a  species  of  noble  negligence.  They 
are  not  particularly  careful  to  frame  every  thing  so  that  it 
will  exactly  fit  to  every  other  portion  of  a  narrative  or  dis- 
course. This  is  the  artifice  of  one  who  intends  to  deceive, 
and  who  is  afraid  to  trust  his  readers.  To  have  made  every 
thing  of  this  kind  in  the  Scriptures  perfectly  clear,  would 
have  required  an  enlargement  of  them  altogether  at  variance 
with  their  intended  popular  diffusion,  and  equally  injurious 
to  the  habits  of  inquiry  in  the  student. 

Thei'e  are  difficulties  of  another  kind,  which  must  for 
ever  remain  unremoved,  not  because  of  our  ignorance,  but 
from  the  limited  nature  of  our  faculties.  There  is  a  border- 
land between  the  known  and  the  unknown  on  which  clouds 

*  The  subject  of  the  baptism  for  the  dead,  1  Cor.  xv.  29,  is  diflScult 
of  explanation,  because  of  the  silence  of  contemporary  writers. 
31* 


366  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

and  darkness  must  always  rest.  We  cannot  even  gain 
glimpses  of  the  truth,  nor  form  conjectures  which  have  any 
plausibility.  There  are  points  connected  with  the  higher 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  which  there  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose will  be  any  more  level  to  ,our  comprehension  in  the 
future  state  than  they  are  now,  for  the  reason  that  they  are 
not  cognizable  by  a  created  being  in  any  stage  of  his  prog- 
ress. Tliey  are  not  open  to  analysis.  We  can  neither  dis- 
cover their  nature,  nor  cast  any  light  upon  them  by  analogy. 
Now  the  Scriptures  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  announcing 
the  simple  fact  of  the  existence  of  particular  objects  or  rela- 
tions, unattended  with  a  word  of  explanation.  They  could 
not  make  a  revelation  in  regard  to  certain  subjects,  without 
involving  allusions  to  relations  or  modes  of  being,  or  presup- 
posing their  existence,  which  it  would  be  utterly  impossible 
for  us  to  comprehend.  He  who  cavils  at  these  inexplicable 
difficulties,  shows  that  he  has  no  conception  of  what  a  di- 
vine revelation  must  be. 

There  is  a  difficulty  of  a  still  more  serious  character  than 
any  which  has  been  alluded  to,  and  which  is  urged  against 
many  passages  in  the  Psalms  and  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible. 
This  is,  the  wishing  of  evil  to  one's  enemies,  the  imprecat- 
ing of  curses  upon  those  who  have  injured  us,  the  expres- 
sion of  joy  in  seeing  calamity  alight  upon  the  wicked. 

The  objection  arising  from  this  source  against  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures  is  more  formidable,  perhaps,  than 
any  other  ;  or,  at  any  rate,  it  is  attended  with  some  pecu- 
liar difficulties.  It  is  felt  alike  by  all  classes  of  readers,  un- 
less it  be  in  fact  more  perplexing  to  the  common  Christian, 
than  it  is  to  the  professed  scholar.  It  does  not,  perhaps, 
absolutely  unsettle  the  faith  of  any  believer  in  the  Bible, 
but  it  occasions  misgivings,  painful  doubts,  and  a  disposition 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  367 

to  pass  by  unread  the  portions  of  the  Bible  in  question.  A 
circumstance  which  increases  the  perplexity  is,  that  the 
imprecation  is  often  found  in  close  connecti9n  with  language 
which  indicates  the  firmest  trust  in  God,  or  a  high  state  of 
devotional  feeling.  It  cannot  easily  be  detached  from  things 
which  seem  to  have  no  possible  affinity  with  it.  How  can 
feelings  so  opposif^  coexist  ? 

Again,  the  imprecation  of  a  calamity  upon  another  is 
apparently  at  war  with  some  of  the  better  feelings  of  our 
nature.  It  runs  counter  to  the  common  sentiments  of  com- 
passion within  us.  We  pity  a  brute,  though  it  may  have 
injured  us,  especially  if  we  behold  it  in  a  condition  of  suffer- 
ing. It  would,  also,  seem  to  be  opposed,  to  the  dictates  of 
natural  religion.  We  see  that' God  sends  his  rain  upon  the 
iust  and  unjust,  that  he  is  constantly  doing  good  to  those 
who  deny  his  authority,  or  blaspheme  his  name.  The  indi- 
cations throughout  the  realms  of  nature  and  Providence 
would  certainly  lead  us  to  feel  that  we  should  be  like  our 
Heavenly  Father,  and  open  the  hand  of  liberal  kindness  to 
all  men,  to  enemies  and  strangers  as  well  as  to  kindred  and 
friends.  Most  men,  indeed,  who  enjoy  the  light  of  nature 
only,  adopt  a  different  practical  course  and  take  delight  in 
acts  of  revenge.  But  this  is  certainly  at  variance  with  that 
which  they  might  know  of  God  and  of  their  own  duty. 

Above  all,  however,  it  would  seem  to  be  wholly  adverse 
to  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament.  Our  Lord  gave  a  new 
commandment,  that  we  should  love  one  another.  When 
thine  enemy  hungers,  feed  him.  I  say  unto  you,  love  your 
enemies  ;  pray  for  them  that  despitefuUy  use  you  and  per- 
secute you  ;  speak  evil  of  no  man  ;  not  returning  railing  for 
railing,  but,  contrariwise,  blessing.  The  whole  tenor  and 
spirit  of  the  Gospel  is  disinterested  benevolence,  comprehen- 


368  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTUHES. 

sive  charity.  How  are  we  to  reconcile  the  loving  spirit  of 
the  new  dispensation  with  the  direful  maledictions  of  the 
old  ?  When  there  is  such  a  want  of  harmony  in  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  Scriptures,  how  can  the  whole  be  from  that 
perfect  Being,  whose  precepts  must  be  all  self-consistent  ? 

The  numerous,  though  unsatisfactory,  methods  which 
have  been  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  (Obviating  the  diffi- 
culty, betray  the  anxiety  which  has  been  caused  by  it  in  the 
pious  mind. 

I  will  advert  to  the  more  plausible  of  these  methods.  It 
has  been  suggested  by  some  interpreters,  among  them  the 
venerable  Dr.  Scott,  that  many  of  those  passages  which 
appear  in  our  English  version  as  imprecatory,  as  express- 
ing a  wish  or  desire  for  the  infliction  of  evil,  should  be  ren- 
dered as  a  simple  affirmation,  or  as  merely  declaratory  of 
what  will  take  place  in  regard  to  the  wicked,  on  the  ground 
that  the  verb  in  the  original  is  in  the  future  tense  where  our 
translation  has  given  it  an  optative  or  imprecatory  signifi- 
cation,—  the  Hebrew  language  having  no  peculiar  form  to 
express  the  various  senses  of  the  optative. 

But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  numerous  passages  where 
the  verb  is  in  the  imperative  ?  For  example  :  "  Pour  out 
thine  indignation  upon  them ;  let  thy  wrathful  anger  take 
hold  upon  them."* 

What  shall  be  affirmed  in  relation  to  the  texts  where  those 
are  pronounced  blessed  who  take  vengeance  upon  an  enemy.? 
"  Happy  shall  he  be  who  rewardeth  thee  as  thou  hast  served 
us !  Happy  shall  he  be  that  taketh  and  dasheth  thy  little 
ones  against  the  stones  !  " 

In  what  manner,  again,  shall  we  vindicate  those  passages 

*  Ps.  Lxix.  24,  25  ;  also  Ps.  Iv.  10. 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  369 

where  the  righteous  are  described  as  looking  with  compla- 
cency, feasting  their  eyes,  as  it  were,  upon  the  calamities 
of  their  oppressors  ?  "  The  righteous  shall  rejoice  when  he 
seeth  the  vengeance  ;  he  shall  wash  his  feet  in  the  blood  of 
the  wicked." 

It  would  manifestly,  therefore,  be  of  no  avail,  if  we  were 
permitted,  to  render  certain  passages  in  a  declaratory  or 
prophetic  sense,  which  are  now  rendered  as  indicating  a 
wish  or  desire.  The  difficulty  would  exist  elsewhere  in  its' 
full  extent.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  affirma- 
tion itself,  in  regard  to  the  Hebrew  language,  is  untenable. 
There  are  forms  of  the  verb  in  Hebrew,  and  there  are  con- 
nected particles,  which  oblige  us  to  translate  by  the  terms 
let,  may,  and  others,  which  are  expressive  of  wish  or  desire.* . 
Often,  too,  the  context  will  not  justify  any  other  rendering. 

Another  way  in  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  remove 
the  difficulty,  is  to  consider  it  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation, as  one  of  the  things  engrafted  upon  the  Mosaic 
economy  which  the  Christian  dispensation  does  not  recog- 
nize ;  as  consonant  with  the  general  spirit  of  the  Jewish 
theocracy,  but  which  a  clearer  revelation  would  annul. 

But  God  is  the  author  of  these  dispensations,  and  the 
general  spirit  of  the  two  must  be  the  same.  We  ought  not 
to  vindicate  one  Testament  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 
What  is  essentially  bad  at  one  period,  must  be  so  at  all 
times.  It  is  no  less  wrong  for  Joshua  to  indulge  in  malice 
towards  the  Canaanites,  than  it  is  for  the  Apostle  Paul  to- 
wards Nero.  Cruelty  is  no  more  tolerated  in  the  Penta- 
teuch than  it  is  in  the  Epistle.  He  has  not  been  a  careful 
reader  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  who  has  not  observed 

*  See  Gesenius's  Heb.  Gram.  (Conant's  Transl.),  pp.  249,  262 ; 
Nordheimer,  ^  1078. 


370  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

the  special  pains  which  God  took  to  impress  upon  the  hearts 
of  the  Israelites  the  importance  of  treating  kindly,  not  only 
the  widow  and  the  orphan,  but  the  stranger,  the  Egyptian, 
the  hired  servant  who  was  not  of  their  own  nation.  No 
small  part  of  the  Levitical  law,  is  taken  up  with  commands 
and  appeals  designed  to  counteract  the  narrow  and  selfish 
spirit  of  the  Hebrews. 

Besides,  the  principle  runs  through  the  entire  Scrip- 
tures, the  New  Testament  as  well  as  the  Old.  "  Alexander 
the  coppersmith  did  me  much  evil.  May  the  Lord  reward 
him  according  to  his  works  !  "  It  is  not  easy  to  see  how 
this  differs  materially  from  the  imprecations  in  the  book  of 
Psalms. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  some,  that  the  passages  in  ques- 
tion are  to  be  understood  in  a  spiritual  sense  ;  that  the  refer- 
ence to  individuals  is  not  real,  but  imaginary,  assumed  for 
the  time  being,  and  for  an  ultimate  purpose  wholly  differ- 
ent from  what  lies  on  the  face  of  them  ;  that  is,  we  are  to 
apply  these  various  maledictions  to  our  spiritual  foes,  im- 
precating on  them  the  terrible  calamities  which  were  ap- 
parently, but  only  apparently,  intended  for  the  personal 
enemies  of  the  sacred  writers. 

The  simple  statement  of  such  a  position  is  enough  to 
show  its  absurdity.  If  Doeg,  Ahithophel,  and  Alexander 
the  coppersmith,  were  not  real  persons,  what  were  they  ? 
Besides,  whither  would  such  a  principle  of  interpretation 
carry  us .? 

Others,  still,  have  conjectured  that  temporal  calamities 
only  were  desired,  there  being  no  allusion  to  those  which 
may  affect  the  soul  in  the  future  state. 

But  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  how  the  principle  in  the  one 
case  differs  from  that  in  the  other.     If  we  may  pray  that  a 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  371 

particular  pei'son  may  "  go  down  alive  and  instantly  into 
the  grave,"  and  that  the  direst  plagues  may  fall  on  his 
family,  till  their  very  name  is  blotted  out,  do  we  not  neces- 
sarily include  those  heavier  evils  which  the  soul  shall  suffer 
hereafter?  It  seems  to  be  a  distinction  without  a  differ- 
ence. Many  passages,  too,  are  general  in  their  character. 
They  do  not  appear  to  be  limited  to  punishments  which  are 
specific  in  their  nature,  or  temporary  in  their  duration. 

I  come  now  to  what,  I  think,  must  be  regarded  as  a  justi- 
fication of  the  language  in  question  ;  as  going  to  account,  in 
a  great  measure,  if  not  wholly,  for  the  usage  of  the  sacred 
writers. 

The  principle  may  be  best  stated  by  two  or  three  illus- 
trations. Doeg,  an  Edomite  herdsman,  in  the  time  of 
Saul,  killed  eighty-five  unarmed,  helpless  priests,  when  he 
knew  that  they  were  wholly  innocent  of  the  charge  made 
against  them,  and  when  no  one  else  dared  to  touch  these 
consecrated  servants  of  the  Lord.  But  with  this  he  was 
not  satisfied ;  every  woman  and  child,  every  breathing 
thing,  fell  under  the  assassin's  knife.  Now  the  very  men- 
tion of  the  atrocity  stirs  up  feelings  in  us  which  cannot  be 
repressed,  and  which  are  only  rendered  the  more  poignant 
by  reflection  on  the  attendant  circumstances. 

The  murder  of  the  children  at  Bethlehem,  by  Herod, 
another  Edomite,  was  an  act  of  gratuitous  cruelty,  which 
the  imagination  utterly  refuses  to  carry  out  into  its  details. 
The  shriek  of  the  frantic  Rachel,  in  every  dwelling  where 
there  was  a  little  child  to  be  struck  down,  is  all  that  the 
heart  can  bear.  Towards  the  author,  every  reader  of  the 
history,  from  his  day  down,  has  had  but  one  feeling.  The 
horrors  of  conscience  that  he  suffered  on  account  of  his 
murder  of  his  wife  Mariamne,  and  which  almost  antedated 


372  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

those  pains  that  shall  never  have  an  end,  do  not  awaken 
for  him  the  slightest  degree  of  sympathy.  A  happy  end 
to  that  turbulent  life  would  have  shocked  us. 

The  woman  that  wished  the  head  of  the  venerable  fore- 
runner of  our  Lord  to  be  brought  to  her  in  a  basin,  —  who 
desired  to  enjoy  a  sight  which  would  have  curdled  the  blood 
of  any  one  else,  —  has  excited  a  feeling  in  eveiy  reader's 
breast,  that  no  lapse  of  time  has  in  the  least  degree  dimin- 
ished. The  simple  words  of  the  Gospel  are  enough.  We 
wish  not  a  word  of  commentary.  Every  right-minded  man 
has  one,  on  the  living  fibres  of  his  heart. 

The  striking  of  a  great  bell  at  midnight  in  Paris  was  the 
signal  of  a  deed  at  which  men  shudder  now,  at  the  distance 
of  nearly  four  hundred  years.  It  was  a  night  long  to  be 
remembered.  It  needed  no  record  on  the  page  of  history. 
It  is  engraven  in  ineffaceable  chai'acters  on  the  moral  sense 
of  all  Protestant  Christendom.  It  was  an  outrage  upon  the 
nature  which  God  has  given  to  his  creatures,  which  admits 
of  no  apology,  and  which  necessarily  demanded  an  atone- 
ment that  is  not  yet  fully  paid. 

In  the  darkest  moments  of  the  French  Revolution,  we 
are  consoled  by  one  circumstance.  There  is  light  in  one 
quarter  of  that  midnight  horizon.  The  day  of  retribution 
will  come.  Every  spectator  of  the  tragedy  feels,  if  he  does 
not  say,  "  Blessed  shall  he  be  who  rewardeth  thee  as  thou 
hast  done  to  others."  And  when  the  cup  is  poured  into  the 
lips, —  to  the  very  dregs,  —  there  is  a  satisfaction,  not  so 
much  heartfelt  as  conscience-felt.  A  great  moral  debt  has 
been  paid.  God's  righteous  government  has  taken  a  firmer 
hold  of  men  in  consequence.  The  Divine  veracity  has 
'i-eceived  a  new  illustration.  He  who  sowed  the  wind  has 
reaped  the  whirlwind. 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  373 

What  is  the  character  of  the  principle  thus  manifested  ? 
What  is  the  nature  of  these  emotions  ? 

A  primary  element  of  it  is  indignation.  Before  we  have 
had  time  to  reflect,  there  is  an  instant,  a  spontaneous  gush 
of  the  emotion  of  anger  towards  the  evil-doer.  We  can- 
not prevent  it  if  we  would.  It  is  prior  to  all  deliberation. 
In  its  first  outbreak  it  is  above  control.  It  is  outraged  na- 
ture, that  will  have  vent.  In  the  commission  of  a  great 
wrong,  particularly  where  the  accompanying  cii'cumstances 
are  such  as  to  strongly  arrest  attention,  the  being  is  some- 
thing more  or  less  than  human  whose  soul  is  not  deeply 
stirred. 

Another  element  is  compassion  towards  the  injured  party. 
We  have  an  instinctive  pity  for  weakness  crushed  in  the 
dust,  for  innocence  betrayed  and  violated.  The  wailing 
cry  of  infancy  is  in  our  ears  ;  the  white  locks  of  age,  drag- 
gling in  the  dust,  are  in  our  sight.  An  unoffending  man, 
because  he  would  not  alienate  the  inheritance  of  his  fathers, 
is  defrauded  of  his  rights,  and  then  taken  and  murdered  on 
religious  grounds,  by  lying  testimony.  Sentiments  of  the 
tenderest  interest  in  the  wretched  sufferer  spring  up.  Our 
hearts  rush  towards  him  with  the  warmest  compassion. 
We  would  rescue  him,  if  possible,  ere  the  fatal  stone  be 
thrown.  Thousands  in  our  land  can  testify  to  such  an 
emotion  —  deep,  and  not  to  end  but  with  life  —  towards  the 
hapless  aborigines  of  this  country,  cheated  and  worn  out  by 
a  long  course  of  successful  villany. 

Another  and  a  principal  ingredient  is  a  sense  of  justice. 
When  a  crime  of  extraordinary  atrocity  goes  unpunished, 
we  feel  that  justice  is  defrauded  of  its  dues.  We  arc  in- 
dignant that  such  a  wrong  should  be  unredressed.  While 
the  crime  is  unatoned  for,  we  have  a  feeling,  not  only  of 

VOL.  II.  32 


374  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

insecurity,  but  that  justice  has  been  violated.  Public  order 
is  disturbed  ;  a  shock  has  been  given  to  that  sense  of  recti- 
tude which  is  common  to  man. 

,This  is  not  of  momentary  duration,  as  the  indignant  or 
compassionate  feeling  may  be.  It  grows  stronger  with  the 
lapse  of  time.  Reflection  only  adds  to  its  intensity.  De- 
liberation but  shows  its  reasonableness.  In  other  words, 
wh.en  a  great  outrage  is  pei'petrated,  nothing  will  calm  the 
perturbation  of  our  moral  nature  but  the  infliction  of  a 
penalty.  The  grievance  must  be  redressed.  A  voice 
within  us  calls  imperatively  for  reparation,  whether  we  or 
others  are  the  authors  of  the  deed.  The  endurance  of  suf- 
fering is  an  indispensable  condition  for  the  return  of  peace. 
We  secretly  desire  the  speedy  infliction  of  the  penalty  on 
ourselves,  if  we  are  conscious  of  guilt,  and  on  others,  also, 
if  they  are  the  evil-doers.  And  what  we  crave  by  an  irre- 
pressible instinct  of  our  moral  nature,  may  we  not,  on  fit 
occasions,  exjiress  in  language  7  * 

My  next  remark  is,  that  it  is  an  original  principle  of  our 
nature  ;  it  is  a  simple  and  ultimate  fact.  It  has  all  the 
marks  of  being  such,  which  can  be  affirmed  in  relation  to 
any  attribute  of  our  nature.  It  is,  in  the  first  place,  instan- 
taneous in  its  manifestation.  Its  movements  are  rapid  as 
the  light.  It  gives  no  notice  of  its  coming ;  neither  can  we 
stay  it.  In  certain  circumstances,  it  will  arise,  in  despite 
of  all  the  physical  and  moral  obstacles  which  we  can  array 
against  it.  In  this  respect,  it  stands  precisely  on  the  ground 
of  the  other  original  properties  of  our  constitution. 

Again,  it  is  universal,  and  therefore  original.  It  has 
shown  itself   in   all  ages,  in   every  state  of  society  and 

*  See  the  fine  and  almost  Christian  remarks  which  are  made  on  this 
subject  near  tl  e  close  of  Plato's  Gorgias. 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  375 

period  of  human  life,  among  the  rudest  and  the  most  refined. 
Wherever  the  voice  of  a  brother's  blood  has  cried  from  the 
ground,  it  has  found  an  answering  echo  in  every  bosom,  no 
matter  whether  in  the  midst  of  the  most  polished  society, 
or  in  the  remotest  outskirts  of  paganism.  Or,  if  it  has 
shown  unwonted  strength,  it  is  in  the  breast  of  him  who  has 
the  most  refinement,  and  who  has  advanced  the  furthest  in 
the  Christian  life,  because  such  a  one  has  the  most  compre- 
hensive acquaintance  with  the  bad  effects  of  crime,  and  the 
greatest  desire  that  right  should  triumph  over  fraud,  and,  in 
general,  that  state  of  the  moral  feelings  which  best  fits  him 
to  show  the  genuine  sentiments  of  his  heart. 

In  the  third  place,  its  universality  is  attested  in  another 
way,  in  the  most  decisive  manner.  There  are  literary  pro- 
ductions which  speak  to  man  as  man,  to  his  original  and 
indestructible  tendencies  ;  productions  that  are  so  framed 
as  to  strike  chords  in  every  human  breast.  Now  some  of 
the  greatest  of  these  works  proceed  on  the  ground  that  jus- 
tice cannot  be  appeased  without  the  infliction  of  suffering, 
and  that  the  desire  of  evil,  either  to  be  poured  out  upon 
ourselves  or  others,  as  the  case  may  be,  instead  of  being 
an  unnatural  desire,  is,  on  the  contrary,  one  of  our  deepest 
aspirations,  and  its  gratification  an  indispensable  condition 
of  happiness,  or  even  of  a  tolerable  measure  of  quiet.  The 
catastrophe  is  painful ;  but  the  contrary  would  be  far  more 
so.  In  the  ultimate  triumph  of  fraud  and  high-handed 
crime,  every  sentiment  of  justice  within  us  is  shocked. 
The  author  who  would  conduct  us  to  such  a  result,  either 
does  not  understand  the  deeper  principles  of  his  own  moral 
being,  or  he  wantonly  trifles  with  them.  Our  moral  na- 
ture "  cries  aloud,"  that  it  is  meet  that  those  who  commit 
enormous  crimes  should  be  visited  with  a   proportionable 


376  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

doom.  When  the  avenger  of  blood  overtakes  such  a  one, 
we  are  glad  that  he  did  not  reach  the  city  of  refuge.  Now 
the  highest  work  of  genius  is  the  exactest  transcript  of 
these  original  states  and  demands  of  our  nature. 

It  may  be  maintained,  further,  that  this  feeling  is  not 
necessarily  accompanied  with  any  malice  or  ill-will  towards 
the  sufferer.  An  atrocious  crime  is  committed  in  our 
neighborhood ;  we  have  the  strongest  sympathy  for  the 
injured  party,  and  indignation  towards  the  evil-doer.  We 
unite  in  all  proper  measures  to  bring  him  to  what  we  call  a 
condign,  that  is,  a  deserved  punishment.  We  rejoice  when 
we  learn  that  he  has  been  apprehended,  and  that  justice  is 
permitted  to  take  its  appointed  course.  If  we  do  not,  in  so 
many  words,  imprecate  calamities  upon  him,  we  feel,  and 
we  perform,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing.  We  ardent- 
ly desire  and  pray  that  he  may  suffer  punishment.  If  he 
is  proved  to  be  guilty,  we  are  disappointed  if  he  escape. 
We  are  even  eager  to  cooperate  in  efforts  to  bring  him 
within  the  arm  of  the  law.  But  all  this  is  not  attended 
with  any  desire  to  witness  the  sufferings  of  a  human  being, 
or  that  those  sufferings,  in  themselves,  should  be  felt.  We 
have  no  malice  or  private  revenge  to  gratify.  The  absorb- 
ing emotion  is  for  the  good  of  society.  We  have  the  persua- 
sion, that,  if  the  criminal  escapes,  the  bonds  that  hold  men 
together  will  be  weakened,  if  they  are  not  destroyed.  That 
there  may  be  this  entire  freedom  from  personal  ill-will,  is 
shown  by  the  fact,  that  our  feelings  are  precisely  similar, 
in  kind  at  least,  towards  an  offending  contemporary  or 
neighbor,  and  towards  a  notorious  culprit  who  lived  ages 
ago,  or  may  now  live  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  whose 
punishment,  or  escape  from  it,  cannot  possibly  affect  us  per- 
sonally.    The  utterance  of  this  moral  feeling  is  the  utter- 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  377 

ance  of  humanity  within  us.  It  is  an  expression  of  sym- 
pathy in  the  well-being  of  the  race.  If  it  be  the  faintest 
sigh  of  some  abused  exile  among  the  snows  of  Siberia ;  if 
it  be  an  ancient  Briton,  standing  on  the  last  rock  where 
freedom  could  find  a  resting-place  ;  if  it  be  an  American 
Indian,  looking  for  the  last  time  on  the  grave  of  his  father, 
just  as  insatiate  avarice  is  about  to  drive  his  plough  through 
it,  —  the  feeling  within  is  one  and  identical.  Time  and 
space  are  overleaped  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Our 
hearts  gather  instantly  around  these  despairing  wretches. 
Towards  their  oppressors  we  feel  no  hate  or  revenge.  But 
till  retribution  has  been  made  in  some  way,  till  suffering 
has  been  felt  in  some  form,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  rest  in 
quietness.  The  delicate  framework  of  our  moral  being 
has  been  deranged.  It  must  be  repaired  by  the  infliction 
of  suffering. 

Instead  of  the  feeling  in  question  being  necessarily  sin- 
ful, it  may,  on  the  contrary,  be  the  evidence  of  a  generous 
sympathy,  of  a  finely  educated  conscience,  and  of  a  char- 
acter conformed  to  the  great  standard  of  perfection.  Not 
to  possess  this  moral  sympathy,  might  indicate  a  pusillani- 
mous nature,  a  dulness  of  spiritual  apprehension,  and  no 
desire  that  the  disorders  in  God's  kingdom  should  be  recti- 
fied. 

The  connection  of  this  original  principle  of  our  nature, 
which  has  been  briefly  developed,  with  the  imprecations  "In 
the  Psalms  and  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  is  obvious.  If 
it  does  not  account  for  all,  it  still  lies  at  the  foundation  of  a 
large  portion  of  them.  In  other  words,  these  imprecatory 
passages  are  justified  by  a  primary  and  innocent  feeling  of 
our  nature.  Were  we  placed  in  the  condition  of  the  sacred 
penmen,  we  should  feel,  and  properly  feel,  as  they  felt. 
32* 


378  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

The  sight  of  the  shameless  cruelty  of  an  Edomitish  herds- 
man, if  it  did  not  dictate  an  imprecatory  poem,  would  un- 
avoidably awaken  those  feelings  on  which  that  poem  is 
founded.  The  impartial  spectator,  as  he  stood  on  the 
smoking  ashes  of  Jerusalem,  and  saw  the  Idumeans  as 
they  stimulated  the  fierce  Chaldeans  to  "  raze "  the  holy 
city  to  its  foundations,  and  heard  them  suggest  new  and 
ingenious  methods  of  cruelty,  would  join  in  the  emotions 
which  called  forth,  if  he  did  not  in  the  words  which  ex- 
press, the  maledictions  of  the  hundred  and  thirty-seventh 
Psalm.  Let  any  right-minded  reader  look  at  the  lives  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  of  the  first  Herod,  of  some  of  the 
Roman  emperors,  of  the  Fouquier  Tinvilles  and  Carriers  of 
the  French  Revolution,  and  fail,  if  he  can,  to  rejoice,  yea, 
exult,  when  the  same  cup  is  wrung  out  to  them  which  they 
had- mingled  for  others.  The  feeling  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  penned  the  fifty-fifth  and  sixty-ninth  Psalms  was  not 
malice.  It  was  the  indignation  excited  by  cruelty  and  in- 
justice, and  the  desire  that  crime  should  be  punished. 
They,  doubtless,  followed  the  precept,  Be  ye  angry,  and 
sin  not.  If  we  were  acquainted  with  the  circumstances 
which  called  forth  the  imprecatory  Psalms,  we  should, 
doubtless,  find,  as  the  cause  or  occasion,  striking  cases  of 
treachery,  practised  villany,  and  unblushing  violations  of 
law. 

*  Our  Saviour  uttered  awful  anathemas  against  the  hypo- 
critical Scribes  and  Pharisees.  These  were  authorized,  not 
simply  on  the  ground,  that  he  knew  the  hearts  of  men,  and, 
as  judge  of  the  world,  had  a  right  to  anticipate  the  final  sen- 
tence, but  from  the  atrocity  of  their  crimes.  On  account  of 
the  reputed  sanctity  of  their  characters,  they  were  often 
made  the  depositaries  for  safe  keeping  of  the  pittance  of 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  379 

widows,  or  they  became  guardians  of  the  estates  of  orphans. 
These  sacred  funds,  they  artfully  embezzled  and  appropri- 
ated to  their  personal  use,  while  the  helpless  owner  sought 
for  redress  in  vain,  because  the  judge  in  the  case  might  be 
the  swindler  himself.  No  wonder  our  Saviour  denounced 
the  vengeance  of  Heaven  on  these  sanctimonious  thieves 
and  repudiators.  His  anathemas  were  sanctioned  by  a 
feeling  which  we  have  in  common  with  him,  and  which,  on 
extraordinary  occasions,  we  not  only  cherish,  but  express 
or  imply  in  language.  If  we  had  been  fully  possessed  of 
the  facts,  and  all  the  attendant  circumstances,  as  he  knew 
them,  or  as  his  disciples  might,  in  a  degi'ee,  have  known 
them,  we  should  have  seen  ample  ground  for  his  terrible 
denunciations. 

Our  position  is,  indeed,  different,  in  certain  respects,  from 
that  of  the  inspired  writers,  or  of  the  ancient  Jews.  The 
Israelites  were  authorized  by  God  himself  to  exterminate 
some  of  the  tribes  by  whom  they  were  surrounded.  This 
distinct  commission  would  justify  a  style  of  address  in  re- 
spect to  these  tribes,  which  would  not  be  proper  in  other 
circumstances.     We  have  no  such  general  commission. 

Again,  we  live  under  a  milder  and  more  spiritual  dispen- 
sation, and  we  are  taught  rather  to  bear  injury  uncomplain- 
ing, and  to  refer  the  taking  of  vengeance  to  Him  to  whom  it 
properly  belongs.  We  are  never  to  cherish  malice  or  ill- 
will.  We  are  in  all  cases  to  love  our  enemies,  and  forgive 
those  who  injure  us.  These  circumstances,  however,  do 
not  seem  to  militate  against  the  view  which  has  been  taken. 
There  are  times  now,  in  great  national  questions,  and  when 
the  ends  of  public  justice  are  to  be  answered,  when  the 
original  principle  of  our  nature  is  innocently  and  necessarily 
brought  into  active  operation.     Without  it,  v/e  should  look 


380  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

unmoved  upon  the  most  stupendous  crimes,  for  no  other 
feature  of  our  moral  constitution  can  be  a  substitute  for  this. 
The  danger  of  its  abuse,  the  fact  that  it  often  degenerates 
into  a  feeling  of  malevolence  or  a  desire  for  private  revenge, 
does  not  alter  its  nature,  or  render  the  indulgence  of  it  un- 
lawful. It  remains  a  principle  implanted  in  our  nature  by 
the  Creator  himself,  as  really  as  pity,  or  any  other  emotion. 

Had  all  the  angels  in  heaven  persevered  in  their  alle- 
giance to  their  Maker,  07ie  power  within  them  had  for  ever 
slumbered  ;  one  susceptibility  had  remained  unawakened. 
They  had  never  known  by  actual  experience  the  feeling  of 
joy  in  seeing  the  course  of  justice  fulfilled.  The  angels 
who  kept  their  first  estate  must  have  approved  the  sentence 
which  doomed  their  companions  to  those  penal  fires  which 
they  still  feel.  A  new  aspect  of  their  moral  being  thus  be- 
comes apparent ;  a  new  principle  of  their  original  nature  is 
developed  ;  a  resource  is  provided  against  an  exigency 
which  was  to  happen.  A  fresh  illustration  is  given  of  the 
wisdom  of  Him,  who  fearfully  and  wonderfully  framed  the 
angel's  nature ;  so  constituting  it,  that  an  act  of  punitive 
justice,  when  demanded,  would  not  seem  arbitrary,  but 
would  be  fully  justified  by  every  one  who  should  behold 
the  spectacle,  or  who  should  sufier  in  consequence  of  his 
deeds. 

So,  also,  with  the  father  of  our  race.  While  in  para- 
dise, he  could  hardly  be  conscious  of  the  powers  that  were 
wrapped  up  within  him.  All  which  he  had  seen  was  clothed 
in  the  smile  of  perfect  love  ;  all  which  he  had  felt  or  imag- 
ined was  an  index  of  naught  but  of  self-satisfying  delight, 
and  of  the  overflowing  Divine  benignity.  But  when  he  was 
exiled  from  his  happy  abode,  he  had  a  new  experience  of 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  381 

the  awful  wisdom  of  his  Creator.  He  was  not  expelled  by 
arbitrary  authority.  Those  flaming  cherubim  were  not  an 
emblem  of  gratuitous  wrath.  In  the  depths  of  his  being,  he 
felt  that  it  was  just.  His  newly  awakened  moral  instinct 
justified  his  expulsion.  So  when  he  stood  over  the  lifeless 
body  of  his  second-born,  with  emotions  such  as  no  other 
father  since  has  looked  upon  a  dead  child,  one  part  of  his 
experience  must  have  been  the  perception  of  the  Divine  jus- 
tice. "  In  that  still  form,  and  closed  eye,"  he  might  say, 
"  a  strange  aspect  of  my  being  is  evolved.  I  feel  within 
me  the  workings  of  a  hitherto  unknown  sensation.  I  felt  at 
first  like  imprecating  vengeance  on  the  fratricide,  but  that 
is  past.  My  own  sin  is  here  visible.  It  was  my  hand  that 
opened  the  great  flood-gate.  Righteous  art  thou,  O  Lord, 
in  thy  judgments." 

Cain,  too,  —  we  have  sometimes  wondered  that,  instead 
of  complaining  of  the  severity  of  his  sentence,  he  did  not 
imprecate  a  heavier  doom  ;  that  he  did  not  desire  that  the 
demands  of  justice  should  be  executed  speedily  on  himself. 
That  he  did  not  so  wish  may  indicate  that  he  was  qualified, 
by  the  possession  of  a  hardened  character,  to  stand  at  the 
head  of  the  long  line  of  murderers. 

In  thus  briefly  considering  one  of  the  sterner  features  of 
our  constitution,  and  some  of  its  practical  developments,  we 
cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  morbid  type  of  much  of  the 
philanthropy  and  religion  current  at  the  present  day.  Love 
degenerates  into  weakness  ;  compassion  becomes  itself  an 
object  of  pity  ;  benevolence  is  degraded  into  an  undiscrim- 
inating  instinct.  The  employment  of  force  is  branded  as  a 
relic  of  barbarous  times.  The  exercise  of  authority  is 
scouted  as  contrary  to  the  spirit  both  of  the  Gospel  and  of 
an  enlightened  age.     The  world  must  now  be  controlled  by 


382  IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

persuasion.  It  was  formerly  supposed  that  law,  with  its 
rigorous  penalty,  was  a  chief  instrument  in  moral  reforma- 
tions ;  that  it  was  one  of  the  main  elements  in  the  means 
which  God  and  man  must  employ  in  meliorating  the  state 
of  society. 

So,  likewise,  in  respect  to  religion.  In  our  days,  there  is 
such  a  prominent  and  reiterated  exhibition  of  the  paternal 
character  of  God,  as  to  endanger,  if  not  destroy,  its  legiti- 
mate effect  on  the  character  of  His  intelligent  creatures. 
There  is  such  a  protrusion  of  the  promises  of  the  Bible, 
and  such  a  concealment  of  its  threatenings,  as  to  neutralize 
the  influence  of  both.  Religion  is  sometimes  so  divested  of 
its  grander  aud  sterner  qualities,  as  to  fail  to  secure  any 
respect.  It  becomes  a  mere  collection  of  pleasant  coun- 
sels, an  assemblage  of  sweet  recommendations,  which  it 
would  be  very  well  to  observe  ;  instead  of  presenting,  as  it 
does,  an  alternative  of  life  or  death,  an  authoritative  code 
of  morals,  a  law  with  inflexible  sanctions,  a  Gospel  to  be 
rejected  on  peril  of  eternal  damnation. 

These  shallow  philanthropists  and  religionists  are  as 
ignorant  of  the  nature  of  man,  as  they  are  of  the  revelation 
of  God ;  as  little  versed  in  the  more  imposing  features  of 
our  constitution,  as  in  the  high  and  solemn  themes  of  Chris- 
tianity. They  have  little  to  do  with  the  deeper  wants  of 
our  moral  being.  They  do  not  understand  how  curious 
and  almost  contradictory  a  piece  of  workmanship  is  man. 
They  seem  never  to  have  imagined,  that  he  has  the  closest 
relations  to  a  moral  law,  to  an  atoning  Saviour,  to  a  right- 
eous moral  Governor,  and  to  an  impartial  judgment-seat. 

Equally  ignorant  are  they  of  the  bonds  which  hold  soci- 
ety together.  Much  of  the  doctrine  which  is  industriously 
promulgated  at  the  present  day,  tends  to  form  a  counterfeit 


IMPRECATIONS    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES.  383 

philanthropy ;  to  make  men  sympathize  with  the  misfor- 
tunes of  the  criminal,  rather  than  with  injured  virtue,  or 
with  public  morals  ;  to  weaken  the  arm  of  the  law,  and  re- 
duce government  itself  into  a  compact  remarkable  for  noth- 
ing but  its  weakness. 


HEBREW    POETRY. 


T    * 


Aside  from  the  fact  that  Hebrew  poetry  forms  part  of 
an  inspired  book,  it  has  points  of  attraction  to  every  man 
who  feels  any  interest  in  literature,  or  in  the  condition  of 
the  human  race  in  past  ages.  This  poetry  is  indeed  small 
in  amount.  It  is  all  found  in  the  compass  of  one  volume. 
The  wol'ds  of  the  language  in  which  it  is  written,  so  far  as 
that  language  has  come  down  to  us,  are  said  to  amount  to 
only  five  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-two,  while  the 
words  in  the  Greek  language  exceed  eighty  thousand. 

The  Hebrew  poetry  has  also  suffered  somewhat,  in  the 
view  of  many,  from  its  being  found  where  it  is,  from  its 
being  associated  with  systems  of  divinity,  or  with  the  war- 
ring tenets  of  different  religious  sects.  It  is  well  enough  for 
theologians  and  Christians  to  be  familiar  with  it,  but  it  is  out 
of  the  circle  of  general  literature  ;  it  is  found  in  an'unclas- 
sical  language  ;  it  has  little  to  do  with  modern  culture. 

But  poetry,  certainly,  does  not  cease  to  be  such,  though 
its  authors  are  the  subjects  of  Divine  inspiration.  There 
are  compositions  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  which,  if  they 

*  This  is  one  of  the  lectures  delivered  by  Professor  Edwards  before 
the  Junior  Class  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 


HEBREW    POETRY.  385 

were  not  inspired,  if  they  were  not  in  the  sacred  books,  and 
were  not  thus  secure  of  an  immortality,  would  be  as  imper- 
ishable as  the  imagination  of  man.  They  relate  to  affec- 
tions which  are  common  to  the  race,  and  pertain  to  themes 
which  are  of  perpetual  interest.  They  emanate  from  "  the 
gift  and  faculty  divine,"  which  belongs  only  to  the  few 
masters.  They  constitute  a  storehouse  of  sublime  and 
beautiful  conceptions,  which  are  native  only  in  the  soil  of 
true  poetry. 

The  fact  that  these  poems  are  inspired,  should  only  in- 
crease our  interest  in  them.  By  thus  having  the  sanction 
of  the  Omniscient  Mind,  their  value  is  immeasurably  aug- 
mented  as  mere  literary  productions  or  works  of  arh  In  the 
first  place,  emanating  as  they  do  from  the  fountain  of  knowl- 
edge, there  are,  consequently,  new  truths,  conceptions  pre- 
viously unknown,  fields  of  thought  which  a  mere  human 
vision  could  never  have  explored.  As  subjects  of  Divine 
inspiration,  the  prophets  were  often  in  that  highly  excited 
state  of  the  feelings,  when  fresh  trains  of  thought  and  lofty 
imagery  would  be  suggested  to  them.  In  the  second  place, 
the  poetry  is  in  this  way  preserved  from  all  which  is  mean 
or  repulsive,  unworthy  or  pernicious.  The  highest  moral 
purity  pervades  it,  a  crystal  clearness  distinguishes  it  from 
much  of  the  discolored  poetry  of  earth.  It  is  even  digni- 
fied and  elevating.  Its  aim  is  utility.  Its  main  object  is 
not  to  please  the  ear,  or  gratify  the  curiosity,  or  enlarge  the 
intellect.  Its  primary  design  was  to  convey  impressive 
lessons  in  relation  to  God,  our  duties  to  Him  ;  to  awaken 
within  us  feelings  of  love  and  adoration. 

A  part  of  our  interest  in  the  poems  of  Homer  arises  from 
their  antiquity.  They  are  treasures  which  seem  to  have 
floated  down  from  a  patriarchal  age,  so  simple,  so   unpre- 

voL.  II.  33 


386  HEBREW    POETRY. 

tending.  Yet  we  have  a  fragment  of  Hebrew  poetry  which 
is  at  least  two  thousand  years  older  than  Homer.  A  stanza 
or  two  have  survived  the  ruins  of  the  old  world.  Miriam, 
the  sister  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  led  the  choral  song  on  the 
shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  six  hundred  years  before  Homer 
was  born.  Some  branches  of  Hebrew  poetry  had  reached 
their  highest  perfection,  two  centuries  before  the  war  with 
Troy  was  sung.  The  strains  of  Deborah  and  Barak  are  a 
model  of  a  hymn  of  triumph,  composed  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred years  before  Pindar.  Neither  Theocritus  nor  Virgil 
ever  composed  so  sweet  a  pastoral  as  that  contained  in  the 
book  of  Ruth,  ages  earlier  than  they.  We  can  hardly  fail, 
therefore,  to  feel  an  earnest  interest  in  productions,  which 
transport  us  to  the  infancy  of  our  race,  and  compared  with 
which  Greek  and  Roman  poetry  are  of  modern  invention. 

The  poetry  of  the  Hebrews  connects  us  with  the  Oriental 
world.  It  unlocks  the  Asiatic  mind.  It  unseals  the  litera- 
ture of  tribes  that  lived  in  the  ancient  seats  of  civilization, 
from  which  Egypt,  and  India,  and  Germany  alike  derived 
their  languages  and  the  germs  of  their  arts  and  sciences. 
We  see  the  human  mind  under  a  new  aspect.  We  are  in- 
troduced to  fresh  forms  of  society,  to  customs  and  manners 
totally  unlike  ours.  It  is  not  the  conventional  literature  of 
Europe,  the  formal  epics  or  pastorals  which  are  framed 
according  to  the  measuring-lines  of  academies,  or  the  canons 
of  art;  but  it  has  the  freshness  of  the  primeval  morning, 
the  exulting  vigor  of  the  mountain  gazelle.  It  may  have, 
in  the  eye  of  the  critic,  great  positive  faults ;  still  it  breathes 
the  freedom  of  the  sons  of  the  desert ;  the  unstudied  grace, 
the  guileless  simplicity,  which  we  shall  look  for  in  vain  in 
the  Occidental  poet,  unless  he  has  been  aided  in  attaining 
them  by  this  Divine  original.     May  not  a  new  class  of  im- 


HEBREW    POETRY,  387 

ages  and  associations  please  us  ?  May  not  an  enlargement 
of  oui'  knowledge  beyond  the  circle  of  European  thought, 
be  attended  with  benefit  ? 

Hebrew  poetry  is  specially  connected  with  the  Arabic. 
Some  of  the  finest  of  the  Arabian  poems  were  transcribed 
in  characters  of  gold,  on  Egyptian  paper,  and  hung  up  in 
the  temple  of  Mecca,  and  were  hence  called  "  golden  "  and 
"  suspended." 

We  should  certainly  be  in  no  danger  of  confounding 
these  poems  of  the  children  of  the  desert  with  the  songs  of 
Schiller,  or  the  sonnets  of  Milton  ;  yet  they  constantly  re- 
mind one  of  the  Song  of  Solomon,  of  some  of  the  Proverbs 
and  Psalms.  The  spirit  of  these  productions  may  be  for- 
eign from  that  which  pervades  our  poetry  ;  much  of  the 
metaphorical  language  may  not  be  in  accordance  with 
European  taste ;  yet  still  these  poems  may  be  original, 
strongly  conceived,  and  expressed  with  great  life  and 
power.  The  serenity  of  the  summer  nights,  and  the  splen- 
dor of  the  moon  and  stars,  induce  the  Orientals  to  recline  on 
the  flat  roofs  of  their  houses,  where  they  note  the  varying 
appearances  of  the  heavens  with  remarkable  precision. 
Traces  of  these  night  observations,  allusions  to  the  starry 
phenomena,  are  largely  incorporated  into  all  the  poetry  of 
the  East.     The  nineteenth  Psalm,  beginning, — 

"  The  heavens  are  telling  the  glory  of  God, 
And  the  work  of  his  hands  proclaims  the  firmament ; 
Day  unto  day  gushes  out  with  song, 
And  night  unto  night  breathes  forth  knowledge,"  — 

is  only  one  of  many  specimens  which  Hebrew  poetry  ex- 
hibits of  allusions  to  these  celestial  phenomena.  Some  of 
the  proverbs  of  Solomon  are  at  this  moment  rehearsed 
among  the  turbaned  circles  at  the  gates  of  Mecca  and 


388  HEBREW    POETRY. 

Mosul,  or  under  the  black  tents  of  the  Koords,  reminding 
us  that  the  Hebrew  poetry  was  composed  under  the  open 
sky,  or  beneath  a  herdsman's  lodge,  or  by  the  weeping  wil- 
lows in  Babylon. 

The  western  and  central  regions  of  Asia  are  becoming, 
more  and  more,  objects  of  interest  to  Christendom.  As  points 
of  attraction  in  Europe  are~  diminishing,  or  as  the  fields  of 
study  for  the  traveller  there  are  exhausted,  he  turns  with  new 
zeal  to  the  yet  marvellous  shores  of  Western  Asia.  Old 
dynasties  there  are  crumbling  in  pieces.  The  successors  of 
the  Caliphs  are  controlled  by  European  diplomacy.  One  of 
the  effects  of  the  infusion  of  Western  mind  will  be  a  more 
exact  acquaintance  with  the  remains  of  Asiatic  literature, 
with  all  which  can  illustrate  the  history  of  these  venerable 
lands.  Fresh  light  will  be  thrown  on  the  relics  of  Hebrew 
lore.  The  strains  of  David  and  Isaiah  may  receive  a  new 
authentication.  Many  passages  may  be  clearly  unfolded, 
which  are  now  made  obscure  by  their  condensed  brevity,  or 
by  some  ill-understood  geographical  reference. 

Again,  Hebrew  poetry  has  exerted  and  is  now  exerting 
more  influence  than  the  poetry  of  any  other  nation.  It  is 
coextensive  with  the  languages  of  the  civilized  world. 
How  widely,  for  example,  are  the  English  conquests  carry- 
ing the  English  translation  of  the  Bible  !  The  sweet  lyrist 
of  Israel  has  penetrated  further  than  Alexander  of  Mace- 
don.  His  odes  are  now  sung  in  the  vale  of  Cashmire,  and 
at  English  firesides  halfway  up  the  Himmaleh  Mountains. 
The  Scotch  bugler,  as  he  picks  up  the  Greek  coin  in  old 
Bactria,  comforts  his  exile  with  the  Psalm-singing  from  the 
version  of  the  Covenanters.  The  extension  of  the  English 
language,  to  which  no  limits  can  now  be  set,  will,  in  a  great 
variety  of  ways,  perpetuate  the  influence  of  the  Scriptures. 


HEBREW    rOETRY.  389 

But  this  poetry  is  not  only  diffused  through  versions  and 
paraphrases  ;  it  is  incorporated  into  the  poetic  hterature  of 
the  whole  Christian  world.  It  supplies  the  seeds  of  thought, 
the  suggestive  hints,  the  little  germs,  the  dim  conceptions, 
the  outlines  of  some  of  the  sublimest  poems,  or  passages  in 
poems,  to  be  found  in  modern  literature.  It  is  the  fountain- 
head  whither  the  great  masters  of  song  have  always  repaired. 
A  separate  essay  has  been  written  to  prove  how  much 
Shakspeare  was  indebted  to  the  Scriptures.  One  of  the 
most  original  poems  in  any  language  is  the  Faerie  Queene 
of  Spenser,  wonderful  for  its  inventions,  its  singular  fan- 
cies, its  adventurous  stories.  Still,  in  many  places,  it  is 
easy  to  perceive  the  influence  of  the  Scriptures  on  the  im- 
agination of  Spenser.  The  Red  Cross  Knight  is  the  Chris- 
tian of  the  last  chapter  of  the  Ephesians,  armed  with  the 
panoply  of  the  Gospel.  Speaking  of  Milton,  Wordsworth 
says  :  "  However  imbued  the  surface  might  be  with  classical 
literature,  he  was  a  Hebrew  in  soul,  and  all  things  in  him 
tended  towards  the  sublime."  If  his  epic  shall  endure  as 
long  as  the  language  in  which  it  was  written,  it  will  be 
greatly  owing  to  his  inspired  prototypes,  who  suggested  or 
aided  his  adventurous  song,  If  time  does  not  crumble  the 
adamant  of  Shakspeare,  it  must  be  ascribed  in  a  considera- 
ble degree  to  the  same  cause.  The  Messiah  of  Pope  is 
only  a  paraphrase  of  some  passages  in  Isaiah.  The  high- 
est strains  of  Cowper  in  his  Task  are  but  an  expansion 
of  a  chapter  of  the  same  prophet.  In  the  Thanatopsis  of 
Bryant,  the  lines, 

"Thou  shalt  lie  down  with  patriarchs  of  the  infant  world, 
With  kings,  the  powerful  of  the  earth,  the  wise,  the  good," 

remind  us  at  once  of  the  words  of  Job  : 

33* 


390  HEBREW    POETRY. 

"  For  now  I  should  have  slept  and  been  quiet, 
I  should  have  lain  down  and  been  at  rest, 
With  kings  and  counsellors  of  the  earth, 
Wlio  built  up  splendid  palaces  for  themselves. 
Or  with  princes  who  had  gold, 
Who  filled  their  houses  with  silver." 

Lord  Byron's  celebrated  poem  on  Darkness, — 

"  The  bright  "sun  was  extinguished,  and  the  stars 
Did  wander  darkling  in  the  eternal  space,  — 

Mom  came  and  went,  and  came,  and  brought  no  day,"  — 

was  evidently  founded  on  a  passage  in  Jeremiah  : 

"  I  looked  at  the  earth,  and  lo !  emptiness  and  desolation  ; 
At  the  heavens,  and  there  was  no  light. 
I  saw  the  mountains,  and  lo  !  they  trembled  ; 
The  hills,  and  they  were  shaken. 
I  beheld,  and  there  was  no  man, 
And  every  bird  of  the  heavens  had  fled." 

In  short,  it  would  be  impossible  to  estimate  the  influence 
of  the  Bible  on  the  poetic  literature  of  all  the  Christian  na- 
tions. This  influence  is  creative,  suggestive,  incorporated 
with  our  earliest  education  and  recollections,  ever  distilling, 
like  the  gentle  dew  and  rain. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  consider  'Hebrew  poetry  under 
two  heads  :  first,  its  external  form  ;  secondly,  its  essential 
characteristics. 

I.  What  is  the  outward  form  of  Hebrew  poetry  ?  In 
what  manner  does  it  differ  from  prose  ? 

First,  not  in  respect  to  rhyme.  There  may  be  occa- 
sionally some  slight  tendencies  towards  the  recurrence  of 
similar  sounds  at  the  close  of  the  members  of  a  verse,  but 
with  the  possible  exception  of  a  few  proverbs  or  apothegms, 


HEBREW    POETRY,  391 

this  rhyme  is  accidental,  or  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
terminations  of  many  verbs  and  nouns  are  necessarily  alike. 
Rhyme  seems  to  be  foreign  to  the  genius  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew  poetry.  It  would  offend  against  its  simple  majesty 
and  depth  of  feeling. 

Secondly,  the  sacred  poetry  does  not  differ  from  prose 
by  any  metrical  arrangement.  The  Hebrew  knows  noth- 
ing of  prosody  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  sense.  Ingenious 
and  laborious  efforts  have  been  made  to  restore  a  metrical 
arrangement,  which,  as  it  is  argued,  has  been  lost.  But 
these  attempts  have  been  altogether  fruitless.  Indeed,  the 
very  idea  involves  some  degree  of  absurdity.  It  implies  a 
scientific  culture  among  the  ancient  Hebrews  which  did  not 
exist.  They  possessed  no  learned  schools,  no  settled  stand- 
ard of  taste,  no  dialect  like  the  Attic,  capable  of  being 
moulded  just  as  a  delicate  ear  or  a  fastidious  taste  might 
prompt.  The  free  spirit  of  an  old  Hebrew  would  scorn  to 
have  his  thoughts  subjected  to  a  severe  criticism,  or  made 
obedient  to  the  nice  laws  of  euphony.  The  Hebrew  lan- 
guage is  almost  totally  destitute  of  the  light  and  abundant 
vocalization,  and  with  it  the  alternation  of  long  and  short 
syllables,  necessary  for  a  metrical  arrangement,  being  in 
this  respect  far  behind  the  Arabic.  The  cognate  Syi'iac 
has  learned  to  limit  the  verse  to  a  definite  number  of  syl- 
lables, but  it  is  unable  to  distinguish  the  syllables  internally 
as  to  quantity,  as  the  Arabic  does.  It  can  merely  form  them 
into  a  kind  of  rhythm,  by  means  of  a  certain  trochaic  fall, 
or  change  of  voice.  In  such  languages  as  the  Greek, 
Sanscrit,  and  Arabic,  possessing  a  beautiful  alternation  of 
long  and  short  syllables,  the  rhythm  extends  its  influence 
from  the  whole  down  to  every  single  syllable  of  the  verse- 
member.     In  them  a  metre  regulates  all  syllables  equally. 


392  HEBREW    POETRY. 

But  this  pure  metrical  or  mathematical  rhythm  is  entirely 
foreign  to  the  Hebrew.* 

How  then  is  the  poetry  of  the  Old  Testament  distin- 
guished from  the  prose  ? 

First,  the  later  poetry,  particularly,  is  distinguished  by 
the  somewhat  frequent  use  of  figures  or  devices,  such  as 
the  paronomasia,  alliteration,  regular  succession  of  the 
same  letters,  and  other  mnemonic  helps.  The  prophet 
Nahum  has  these  words,  np^b.3p-i  np^^^p-i  Tip-ia,  equivalent  to 
the  English  destruction,  devastation,  desolation.  Isaiah  has 
many  of  these  plays  upon  words  ;  e.  g.  'U  "in,  y"?.5<n  'fv'z, 
like  the  Latin  terreat  terram,  German  erheht,  heht ;  n3t?^p 
npj>'  npr>*,  DD'^o,  like  the  German  Bluthad,  Guttliat,  Be- 
driickung,  Begluckung.  In  this  last  case  there  is  the  same 
number  of  syllables,  and  a  kind  of  metrical  harmony. 

The  hundred  and  nineteenth  Psalm  is  divided  into  twenty- 
two  portions,  each  of  which  begins  with  a  successive  letter 
of  the  Hebrew  alphabet.  The  verses  in  three  chapters  of 
the  Lamentations  commence  in  the  same  way.  In  one  chap- 
ter, containing  sixty-six  verses,  the  first  three  verses  begin 
with  the  first  letter  of  the  alphabet,  the  next  three  with  the 
second,  and  so  on.  Some  of  the  Psalms  have  a  kind  of  re- 
frain or  chorus,  a  single  verse  or  sentiment  being  repeated 
after  certain  intervals  of  equal  or  of  unequal  length. 

Secondly,  the  poetic  language  of  the  Hebrews  is  more 
elevated,  animated,  exuberant,  than  the  prosaic,  has  a  more 
stately  march,  retains  more  antique  terms,  and  in  general  suf- 
fers less  change.  Much  that  is  peculiar  to  the  poetic  Ian- 
guage  was  evidently  preserved  by  tradition  from  primitive 
poems  which  we  cannot  now  trace.     Many  archaic  words 

*  See  Ewald  on  Hebrew  Poetrv. 


HEBREW    POETRY.  393 

which  prose  has  lost  are  retained  by  the  poets,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  fuller  and  more  euphonious  forms  are 
only  preserved  in  verse.  "  Bold  combinations  in  the  prop- 
osition, emphatic  collocation  of  words,  and  sententious  brev- 
ity in  the  diction,  are  the  especial  indications  of  the  poet's 
mastery  over  the  language."  "  The  poet,"  Ewald  remarks, 
"  may  more  freely  and  easily  allow  the  divergent  shades 
and  materials  of  the  language  of  his  immediate  home  and 
of  his  own  tinf)e  to  mingle  in  his  diction ;  and  while  prose  is 
slow  to  alter  a  form  which  has  once  been  established,  the 
poetic  language  constantly  enriches  itself,  and  renews  its 
youth,  by  adopting  dialectical  peculiarities  which  have  not 
been  admitted  into  the  prevailing  prose,  and  by  the  intro- 
duction of  elements  from  the  popular  idiom,  which  always 
possesses  a  richer  variety."  * 

Thirdly,  but  the  great,  characteristic  mark  of  Hebrew 
poetry,  in  respect  to  form,  consists  in  what  is  termed  Paral- 
lelism, or,  by  Ewald,  verse-rhythm.  The  words  of  the  poet 
do  not  flow  out  in  a  long,  uninterrupted,  uniform  series,  as 
in  prose,  where  the  great  object  is  perspicuity,  but  they  di- 
vide themselves  into  symmetrical  members,  according  to 
the  degree  of  the  poet's  feeling.  The  diction  has  a  kind 
of  rise  and  fall,  leaping  up  and  receding,  a  modulated, 
graceful  motion.  That  the  voice  ascends  in  the  first  mem- 
ber, and  is  more  tranquil  in  the  second,  is  sometimes  indi- 
cated by  the  accent ;  e.  g.  Judges  v.  12,  ]vij{  \m;?  , 

"  Up  then,  up  then,  Debora  ! 
Up  then,  up  then,  titter  the  song !  " 

There  is  something  similar  to  this  in  the  speeches  of  the 
American   Indians.      They   are  accustomed  to  declaim  in 

*  Ewald. 


394  HEBREW    POETRY. 

short  sentences,  with  some  approach  towards  rhythm,  con- 
stantly reinforcing  a  sentiment  by  repeating  it  in  the  same 
or  in  dilTerent  language,  or  by  denying  the  opposite  : 

"  If  the  white  man  ever  entered  Logan's  cahin  hungry,  and  he  gave 
him  no  meat ; 
If  ever  he  came  cold  and  naked,  and  he  clothed  him  not  —  " 

This  swell  and  ebb,  violent  or  graceful  alternation,  seems 
to  have  its  origin  in  the  nature  of  poetry,  especially  that 
which  is  simple  and  original,  and  to  constitute  a  kind  of 
imperfect  substitute  for  metre  or  rhyme. 

It  is  not,  however,  confined  to  a  mere  rise  and  fall.  New 
variations  and  modifications  come  from  this  fundamental 
principle.  The  variation  may  be  a  mere  continuation  or 
amplification  of  the  fundamental  rhythm  ;  or  it  may  be 
called  a  composition  ;  i.  e.  a  rhythm,  complete  in  itself,  is 
yet  treated  only  as  a  half,  and  made  to  refer  to  a  new  half, 
and  thus  a  larger,  more  complicated  and  diversified  rhythm 
is  produced  ;  or  there  may  be  a  diminution  or  enfeebling 
of  the  rhythm.  These  variations  in  the  rhythm  of  Hebrew 
poetry  are  very  many  and  diversified.     They  are,  — 

1st.  What  is  called  synonymous  parallelism.  In  ntiany 
cases  the  same  sense  which  has  been  poured  forth  in  a  com- 
plete proposition  in  the  first  member,  rises  up  again  in  the 
second,  in  order  to  render  itself  more  impressive,  or  ex- 
haust itself  more  perfectly.  The  second  member  is  not  a 
mere  empty  repetition,  but  often  adds  completeness"  and 
force : 

"  Hear,  my  son,  the  reproof  of  thy  father, 
And  neglect  not  the  law  of  thy  mother." 

Frequently,  a  main  part  of  the  sense  of  the  first  member 
is  further  unfolded  in  the  second  :  — 


HEBREW    POETRY.  395 

"  Who  laid  its  measures,  that  thou  knowest "? 
Or  who  stretched  over  it  the  line  ?  " 

The  mere  alternation  of  the  perfect  and  imperfect  tenses 
often  produces  an  agreeable  variation,  or,  when  the  same 
word  is  repeated,  its  connection  is  often  changed. 

2d.  The  second  species  has  been  named,  though  inade- 
quately, the  synthetic  parallelism  or  rhythm.  "  It  is  a  less 
animated,  more  sluggish  rhythm  ;  the  sentence,  being  too 
long  for  one  member,  is  obliged  to  trail  itself  through  two  "  : 

"  The  Lord  at  thy  right  hand 
Smites  kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath." 

"  In  the  synonymous  parallelism,  at  every  new  member, 
there  is  a  step  or  half-step  backward  again,  in  order  to  set 
out  a  second  time,  with  more  force,  from  what  has  been 
already  said  ;  but  in  the  synthetic  parallelism,  there  is  a 
direct  advance  "  ;  *  there  is  not  so  much  an  iteration  as  a 
progression  in  the  thought. 

3d.  What  has  been  termed  the  antithetic  parallelism, 
though  that  word  embraces  only  a  part  of  what  is  included 
in  the  idea.  Of  the  two  parallel  sentences,  one  is  not  merely 
an  echo  of  the  other,  nor  an  expansion  or  accessory  of  the 
other,  but  the  two  are  antithetical ;  one  affirms  by  a  ne- 
gation what  the  other  asserts  in  a  positive  form,  or  they 
have  the  form  of  protasis  and  apodosis,  or  one  expresses 
the  ground  or  comparison  of  the  other;  for  example  : 

"A  gentle  heart  is  the  life  of  the  body, 
But  jealousy  is  a  canker  to  the  bones  " 

"  If  I  were  hungry  I  would  not  tell  thee, 
For  the  world  is  mine  and  the  fulness  thereof." 

Sometimes  the  protasis  and  apodosis  are  at  the  same  time 
divided  in  the  two  members  : 

*  Ewald. 


396  HEBREW    POETRY. 

"  They  complain,  but  there  is  none  to  help  ; 
To  Jehovah,  but  he  answers  them  not." 

At  the  same  time,  it  should  be  remarked,  that,  while  this 
threefold  division  is  obviously  correct  and  important,  yet 
there  are  many  passages  where  the  distinctions  are  not  ac- 
curately observed  ;  the  three  kinds  run  into  each  other.  In 
short,  along  with  the  observance  of  a  general  law,  the  poet 
enjoyed  great  freedom  in  respect  to  external  form ;  his  free 
spirit  moulded  his  language. 

As  an  instance  of  the  freedom  which  was  practised,  we 
may  take  the  first  Psalm.  In  the  first  verse  there  are  three 
clauses,  and  in  the  second  two  clauses,  which  correspond 
nearly  in  sense,  and  serve  to  exhaust  the  idea.  In  the  third 
verse  we  find  the  leading  thought  of  the  Psalm  ;  then  the 
thought  is  carried  forward  in  the  three  following  clauses, 
so  that  the  last  expresses  in  a  literal  manner  what  the  first 
two  had  communicated  in  a  figurative  way. 

Some  of  the  Hebrew  poetry  is  constructed  so  as  to  be 
sung  in  a  responsive  manner,  or  like  the  antiphonies  which 
were  chanted  in  the  time  of  Ambrose  in  the  cathedral  at 
Milan.  The  twenty-fourth  Psalm  may  have  been  sung  in  a 
festival  procession  of  the  Levites,  as  they  drew  near  the 
ancient  hill  of  Zion  ;  though  some  think  it  was  composedin 
reference  to  the  anticipated  dedication  of  Solomon's  temple. 
The  advancing  procession  begin  : 

"  Who  shall  ascend  the  hill  of  Jehovah, 
And  who  shall  stand  in  his  holy  place  1  " 

A  company  within  the  temple,  or  on  the  top  of  the  mount, 
respond  : 

"  The  clean  of  hands  and  the  pure  of  heart. 
Who  hath  not  lifted  up  to  a  falsehood  his  soul, 
And  hath  not  sworn  to  a  lie." 


HEBREW   POETRY.  397 

Again  the  slowly  moving  throng,  as  they  draw  near  the 
high  and  massive  portals,  exclaim  : 

"  Lift  up,  ye  gates,  your  heads, 
And  be  ye  lifted  up,  eternal  doors, 
That  the  King  of  glory  may  enter." 

Again  is  heard  from  within,  or  from  the  summit : 

"  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  1  " 

The  response  instantly  returns  : 

"  Jehovah,  strong  and  mighty, 
Jehovah,  mighty  in  battle." 

The  summons  is  heard  once  more  : 

"  Lift  up,  ye  gates,  your  heads. 
And  lift  ye  up,  doors  of  eternity, 
That  the  King  of  glory  may  enter." 

Again  the  question  rings  : 

"  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ?  " 
As  the  pageant  crosses  the  threshold,  the  final  response  is 
given  : 

"  Jehovah,  God  of  hosts, 
He  is  the  King  of  glory." 

Our  next  inquiry  relates  to  the  classification  of  Hebrew 
poetry.  Can  it  be  arranged  into  specific  divisions,  like  the 
Epic,  Dramatic,  Pastoral,  and  Descriptive  poetry  of  the 
Greeks .?  Some  have  called  the  Pentateuch  an  epic  ;  the 
poem  of  Job,  a  drama  or  an  epic  ;  Ecclesiastes,  a  philosoph- 
ical poem,  like  that  of  Lucretius,  or  Pope's  Essay  on  Man  ; 
Solomon's  Song,  an  idyl  ;  the  Lamentations,  an  elegy. 

But  it  is  evident  at  first  sight,  that  the  Hebrew  poetry 
will  not  tolerate  any  such  artificial  distinction.  The  poet 
would  feel  the  same  repugnance  to  a  scientific  arrange- 
ment of  this  nature,  that  he  would  to  the  shackles  of  rhyme 

VOL.  II.  34 


398  HEBREW   POETRY. 

or  metre.  His  song  comes  out  from  his  own  imaginative 
nature.  He  does  not  sit  down  thoughtfully,  like  Milton 
or  Wordsworth,  to  construct  an  epic  or  an  ode.  The  fire 
burns  in  his  breast,  and  it  must  flame  forth.  His  dearest 
friend  is  slain  in  battle.  His  feelings  naturally  take  an 
elegiac  form  : 

"  Gazelle  of  Israel,  slain  on  thy- mountains  ! 
Very  dear  wast  thou  to  me ; 
Wonderful  was  thy  love  to  me, 
Passing  the  love  of  women." 

The  poet  happens  to  be  on  Lebanon  in  a  storm  ;  the  blue 
Mediterranean  is  open  before  him,  and  his  feelings  prompt 
the  lofty  lyric  : 

"  Jehovah  is  on  the  mighty  waters  ; 
The  God  of  glory  thundereth  ; 
The  voice  of  Jehovah  divideth  the  flames  of  fire." 

The  sight  of  flocks  lying  on  the  green  grass,  or  drinking 
from  the  rivulet  under  the  watchful  eye  of  the  good  shep- 
herd, gives  to  his  thoughts  a  sweet,  pastoral  simplicity : 

"  Jehovah  is  my  shepherd  ; 
I  shall  not  want." 

At  another  time,  the  wonders  of  ancient  story,  how  Je- 
hovah made  all  the  powers  of  nature  work  in  behalf  of  his 
chosen  people,  led  him  to  say  : 

"  It  is  a  pleasant  thing   , 
To  make  mention  in  the  morning  of  thy  mercy, 
And  of  thy  faithfulness  in  the  night, 
On  a  ten-stringed  harp,  and  on  a  lyre, 
With  the  murmuring  sounds  of  the  harp." 

From  these  examples  we  may  see  how  the  occasion 
classified  the  poetry.     The  lyric  element,  or  the  pastoral, 


HEBREW   POETRY.  399 

or  the  elegiac,  characterizes  the  production,  according  to  the 
state  of  the  poet's  feelings,  or  his  outward  circumstances. 
Yet  he  would  not  be  confined  to  either  of  these,  or  to  any- 
other  form.  Light  suddenly  shone  on  the  darkness  of  his 
soul,  and  the  moaning  elegy  passes  in  a  moment  into  the 
loftiest  song  of  triumph.  The  book  of  Psalms  is  often 
termed  a  lyrical  anthology ;  yet  no  small  part  of  it  is  in  the 
tardily  moving  didactic  style,  hardly  differing  from  prose,  ex- 
cept in  the  recurrence  of  the  parallelism  and  the  position  of 
the  accents.  So  the  book  of  Isaiah  contains  not  less  than 
half  a  dozen  distinct  species  of  poetry,  sometimes  within 
the  compass  of  two  or  three  chapters. 

If  Hebrew  poetry  will  admit  of  any  classification,  the 
best  arrangement,  perhaps,  is  into  Lyric  and  Didactic. 

L  Lyrical  Poetry.  "  This  species  of  poetry,"  says 
Ewald,  "  is  universally  the  first  kind  which  arises  among 
any  people.  It  is  so  according  to  its  nature  ;  for  it  is  the 
daughter  of  the  moment,  of  sudden  feelings,  of  deep  and 
fiery  emotions.  It  is  so  in  point  of  time  also  ;  the  short 
lyric  is  the  most  permanent,  imperishable  part  of  poetry, 
the  first  and  the  last  effusion  of  the  poetic  mood,  like  an 
indestructible  fountain,  which  may  at  any  time  begin  to 
flow  afresh ;  it  is  therefore,  of  necessity,  the  oldest  kind 
of  poetry  among  all  nations,  and  the  one  which  first 
establishes  a  poetic  art  and  form,  and  paves  the  way  for 
all  other  kinds  of  poetry.  If  epic  poetry  was,  in  certain 
nations,  committed  to  writing  at  an  earlier  period  than 
lyrical,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  lyrical  arose,  as  to  its 
primary  elements,  later  than  the  epic.  The  earliest  begin- 
nings of  lyrical  poetry  may.  have  vanished  without  leav- 
ing a  trace  behind."  "  Suddenness  of  emotion  and  of 
act,  intensity  and  vivacity  of  simple  and  irrepressible  feel- 


400  HEBREW    POETRY. 

ings,  the  highest  tension  and  rapid  fall  of  the  imagination, 
—  these  are  the  peculiarities  of  the  Semitic  nations,  lyrical 
poets  by  birth,  not  epic."  "  Lyrical  poetry  has  the  widest 
and  most  manifold  compass,  drawing  into  its  sphere  every 
gush  of  thought  and  emotion,  and  ascending  from  the  brief- 
est snatches  of  song,  up  to  great  hymns  of  victory  and 
praise."  It  lives  and  moves  in  feeling.  It  cannot  exist  in 
mere  thought.  A  process  of  reflection  would  be  fatal  to 
it.  The  only  intellectual  power  with  which  it  deeply  sym- 
pathizes, is  the  imagination. 

An  essential  peculiarity  of  lyrical  poetry  is  in  the  form. 
It  presupposes  the  song  to  be  melodized,  to  be  both  sung 
and  played.  Those  songs  which  were  not  adapted  for 
musical  performance  were  evidently  imitations  of  an  estab- 
lished pattern.  The  distinctive  title  of  a  lyric  song  is  lioip  , 
which  occurs  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  larger  number  of 
Psalms.  It  is  translated  by  the  Septuagint  yj/aXfios,  from 
■^dXXeiv,  to  touch  or  strike  the  strings.  It  corresponds  more 
exactly,  however,  to  /xeXoy,  a  melodious  song,  to  be  sung 
to  some  musical  instrument.  The  word  V^ii'^  probably 
means  a  judicious  or  skilful  melodious  song,  —  a  song  to 
be  performed  with  nice  musical  skill. 

The  meaning  of  the  word  DHDO ,  which  occurs  in  the 
titles  to  six  Psalms,  is  unknown.  It  has  been  conjectured 
that  it  comes  from  Dn3,  like  Dpi),  and  means  golden,  a 
rarer  species,  the  best  lyric  song. 

The  lyric  song  may  be  divided  into  a  number  of  species, 
of  which  the  principal  are  the  following  :  — 

1st.  ri^Hj"^,  hymn,  a  song  of  joy,  triumph,  gratitude,  per- 
formed by  the  whole  congregation,  solemnly  sung  in  the 
temple,  composed  with  especial  care,  and  the  most  impos- 
ing of  all  lyric  productions,  in  solemn  processions  accom- 


HEBREW    POETRY.  401 

panied  with  dancing  as  well  as  music.  The  hymn  sung  on 
the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea',  the  triumphal  hymn  of  Deborah 
and  Barak,  the  numerous  temple  songs,  the  Hallelujah 
Psalms,  songs  of  praise  to  Jehovah  as  the  God  of  nature 
and  nations,  are  specimens. 

2d.  The  second  subdivision  is  the  nrp ,  dpijvos,  a  dirge, 
often  beginning  with  an  exclamation  of  grief,  as  ix,  oh  ! 
ah  !  and  probably  distinguished  by  peculiar  melody  and 
instruments.  Heroes  and  beloved  friends  were  celebrated 
with  such  elegies.  Songs  of  mourning  for  the  calamities 
of  the  country  gradually  received  this  name  ;  e.  g.  Psalms 
xliv.,  Ix.,  Ixxiii.  Jeremiah  at  last  unites  all  possible  mourning 
and  lamentation  in  a  large  and  skilfully  constructed  book 
on  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 

3d.  The  idyl,  Psalm  xlv.,  is  inscribed  ^\'^^y_  TE',  song  of 
loves,  describing,  under  the  image  of  an  Oriental  wedding, 
the  glories  of  the  Messiah's  reign. 

There  is  great  similarity  between  this  production  and 
Solomon's  Song,  the  latter  being  a  full  and  beautiful  devel- 
opment of  what  is  in  the  former  wrapped  up  in  a  germ. 
There  is  in  the  latter  the  addition  of  a  dramatic  element. 
The  change  of  the  chief  persons  in  the  dialogue  is  very 
simple.  A  maiden  called  the  Shulamite  is  the  chief  speak- 
er ;  next  to  her,  King  Solomon  and  a  chorus  of  women  at 
his  courfplay  the  principal  parts.  In  the  subordinate  scenes 
some  other  persons  appear.  "  The  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject is  artlessly  lovely  and  charming,  and  has  a  sublime 
ease  and  simplicity."  ' 

4th,  Miscellaneous,  —  songs  in  which  there  is  satire,  pun- 
gent irony,  as  Psalms  xiv.,  Iviii.,  Ixxxii. ;  songs  expressing 
isolated  impressions  and  sentiments,  short  descriptions, 
depicting  with  lyric  fervor  some  momentous  experience  or 
34* 


402  HEBREW    POETRY. 

beautiful  sights  ;  e.  g.  Psalms  xxiv.,  xxvi.,  cxxxi.,  cxxxii. ; 
and  prayers,  nbnp.  In  some  of  the  Psalms,  however,  with 
this  inscription,  only  the  general  tendency  or  remote  aim 
would  justify  the  application  of  prayer  to  them. 

2.  Didactic  Poetry.  The  other  great  division  is  Didac- 
tic, or  what  Ewald  terms  Gnomic  Poetry.  "  A  calmer 
movement,  moderation,  and  tranquil  attention  to  proportion, 
prevail  in  the  diction,  and  the  composition  is  not  in  general 
to  be  accompanied  by  song  and  music  ;  but  the  elevated 
sentiment  adopts  the  beautiful  form  which  poetry  has  once 
sanctioned,  because  it  is  the  one  which  adequately  corre- 
sponds to  it."  The  didactic  poet  is  distinguished  from 
the  prophet  by  this,  that  he  does  not  appear  publicly  be- 
fore the  people,  nor  aim  to  produce  a  momentary  im- 
pression as  an  orator.  This  kind  of  poetry  among  the 
Hebrews  evidently  commenced  with  Solomon.  It  was  the 
period  of  peace,  extended  commerce,  art,  reflection,  when 
the  poet  could  gather  up  the  experiences  of  the  past,  and 
embody  them  in  pithy  sayings,  sharp  apothegms,  instructive 
allegories,  or  spread  them  out  in  a  kind  of  philosophical 
disquisition. 

Didactic  poetry  includes,  first,  the  popular  proverbs,  con- 
taining instruction  or  confirming  a  truth,  with  great  point 
and  brevity.  Every  short,  pithy  verse  forms  a  whole,  con- 
tains a  complete  sense  by  itself,  and  may  be  applied  at 
pleasure.  It  includes,  secondly,  longer  pieces,  of  an  ad- 
monitory, oratorical  tone,  comparisons  and  metaphors 
worked  out  at  length,  sometimes  with  a  dramatic  inter- 
change of  dialogue.  Sometimes  a  piece  of  this  kind  might 
combine  a  lyrical  element,  and  might  be  even  arranged  to 
music.  Finally,  we  have  in  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  a 
kind  of  philosophical   discussion,   where  the  search  after 


HEBREW    POETRY.  403 

truth  is  gone  into,  the  doubts  of  objectors  are  admitted,  and 
where  the  author,  as  a  moraUst,  lays  down  in  proverbial 
sentences  the  practical  maxims  which  should  be  observed. 

The  book  of  Job  does  not  appear  to  come  exactly  into 
either  of  the  two  great  divisions  of  Hebrew  poetry.  It  has 
epic  features.  It  has  a  beginning,  middle,  end.  It  has  the 
unities  of  time,  place,  and  subject.  It  has  its  centre, — 
one  great  thought,  around  which  all  others  revolve.  It  has 
much  of  the  charm  of  a  lively  drama.  The  six  or  eight 
characters  which  appear  in  it  have  marked,  characteristic 
differences.  The  book  has  great  resemblance  to  a  Greek 
tragedy,  e.  g.  the  Philoctetes  of  Sophocles.  Again,  it  is  a 
wonderful  composition  for  its  lyrical  feeling.  In  pathos,  in 
lofty  flights  of  imagination,  in  delicate  imagery,  it  takes 
a  very  high  rank.  Then  it  has  brief,  sententious  proverbs, 
sometimes  extending  into  lengthened  exhortations  and  highly 
wrought  descriptions.  It  may  also  be  viewed  under  the 
light  of  an  earnest,  philosophical  discussion,  propounding  an 
important  and  most  difhcult  theological  problem  ;  viz.  Why 
is  it  that  a  perfect  Being  permits  the  good  on  earth  to  be 
so  afflicted,  and  the  wicked  to  be  happy  ?  The  book  exhibits 
the  highest  reach  of  all  Hebrew  poetry  and  art. 

II.  I  now  proceed  to  describe  some  of  the  principal  in- 
ternal characteristics  of  Hebrew  poetry,  some  of  the  distin- 
guishing peculiarities  in  the  thought  or  subject-matter. 

The  first  which  I  will  name  is,  that  it  is  Oriental.  Were 
we  ignorant  of  the  native  place  of  the  writers,  we  should 
recognize  on  every  page  of  their  productions  an  Oriental 
cast  of  thought.  There  are  no  traces  of  cultivation,  science, 
or  of  refined  philosophical  speculation,  of  calm  reflection  or 
of  logical  deduction.     In  spirit  and  in  imagery,  it  is  essen- 


404  HEBREW    POETRY. 

tially  Eastern.  It  abounds  in  unexpected  personifications, 
in  apostrophes  which  might  be  almost  called  audacious,  in 
allegories  that  are  often  carried  almost  to  the  verge  of  ex- 
travagance. 

The  Arabian  poet  describes  the  rose  as  pale  from  envy 
at  seeing  the  vermilion  tint  of  the  beautiful  Zerab  ;  the  jas- 
mine reddens  from  rage  at  beholding  the  whiteness  of  her 
complexion  ;  the  nightingale  is  silent  from  despair  as  he 
listens  to  a  song  sweeter  than  his  own.  In  like  manner  the 
Hebrew  poet  inquires  : 

"  Who  is  she  that  looketh  forth  like  the  morning  ? 

Fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun, 

Terrible  as  an  army  in  battle  array  ? " 

A  search  is  made  through  all  the  realms^of  nature,  a  tax  is 
laid  on  all  visible  objects,  to  furnish  comparisons  which 
will  heighten  her  beauty  and  make  her  the  object  of  uni- 
versal admiration. 

The  Arabian  poet  calls  precipitation  the  mother  of  re- 
pentance ;  the  traveller,  the  son  of  the  road  ;  words,  the 
daughters  of  the  lips  ;  prudence,  the  daughter  of  reflection. 
The  Hebrew  names  singing-women  the  daughters  of  song ; 
smelling-bottles,  the  daughters  of  perfume;  branches,  the 
daughters  of  a  tree. 

The  descriptions  of  favorite  animals  form  a  considerable 
part  of  Oriental  poetry.  The  Arabian,  when  he  would  in- 
terest us  in  the  timid  gazelle,  frightened  by  the  sight  of 
the  hunters  and  the  cry  of  their  hounds,  portrays  the  soft- 
ness and  mildness  of  her  eye,  the  delicacy  and  gracefulness 
of  her  neck,  the  whiteness  of  her  skin,  and  the  quivering 
of  her  limbs,  exhausted  with  fatigue.  In  words  relating  to 
the  animal  creation,  the  Arabic  language  is  wonderfully 
copious.     It  has  sometimes  been  denominated  the  camel 


HEBREW    POETRY.  405 

language,  it  has  so  many  references  to  that  animal.  It  has 
been  said  to  have  five  hundred  names  or  epithets  for  the 
lion,  and  two  hundred  for  serpents. 

The  delineation  of  the  horse,  the  hawk,  the  eagle,  the  hip- 
popotamus, in  the  book  of  Job,  are  precisely  such  as  would 
captivate  the  Bedaween  or  the  Koords  of  the  present  day. 

Mr.  Layard,  author  of  the  researches  at  Nineveh,  men- 
tions that  an  Arab  sheikh  of  his  acquaintance  was  the  owner 
of  a  horse  of  matchless  beauty.  Her  dam,  who  died  about 
ten  years  before,  was  the  celebrated  Kubleh,  whose  re- 
nown extended  from  the  sources  of  the  Khabour  to  the  end 
of  the  Arabian  promontory,  and  the  day  of  whose  death  is 
the  epoch  from  which  the  Arabs  of  Mesopotamia  now  date 
the  events  concerning  their  tribe. 

The  highest  ideas  of  happiness  in  the  mind  of  an  Ori- 
ental are  associated  with  freshness  and  verdure.  It  is  a 
maxim  among  the  Arabs,  says  Sir  William  Jones,  that  the 
three  most  charming  objects  in  nature  are  a  green  meadow, 
a  clear  rivulet,  and  a  beautiful  woman,  and  that  the  view 
of  these  three  objects  at  one  and  the  same  time  affords  the 
greatest  delight  imaginable.  Hebrew  poetry  was  written  in 
a  country  where  rain  and  living  fountains  of  water  are  the 
greatest  of  earthly  blessings.  How  much  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful imagery  of  the  prophets  is  drawn  from  this  source ! 
"A  man  shall  be  as  an  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a 
covert  from  the  tempest,  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place, 
and  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 
The  glorious  Jehovah  would  be,  in  the  consummation  of  his 
goodness,  like  a  place  of  broad  rivers  and  streams.  The 
city  seen  by  John  in  Apocalyptic  vision  could  not  be  com- 
plete without  a  pure  river  of  living  water,  with  trees  ever 
green  on  its  banks. 


406  HEBREW    POETRY. 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  this  point  further.  The 
entire  texture  and  spirit  of  Hebrew  poetry  demonstrate  it  to 
be  of  Asiatic  origin.  It  never  could  have  been  written  by 
such  men  as  Virgil  or  Horace,  supposing  them  to  have  been 
Hebrews.  It  bears  the  most  indubitable  marks  that  it  was 
written  in  the  country  where  it  professes  to  have  been 
written.  It  has  a  stronger  resemblance  to  the  poetry  of 
Homer  than  to  that  of  any  other  classical  author,  and  he 
was  probably  an  Asiatic. 

The  second  trait  of  Hebrew  poetry  is  its  wonderful  sim- 
plicity. It  possesses  a  simplicity,  a  transparency,  a  child- 
like cheerfulness,  hardly  found  elsewhere,  a  sublime  natu- 
ralness, which  as  yet  knows  little  of  sti'ict  art.  "  When 
compared  with  the  poetry  of  other  nations,  it  appears  to 
belong  to  a  simple,  more  youthful  period  of  humanity,  to 
gush  forth  from  an  inward  fulness  of  emotion  and  grace  of 
sentiment,  and  to  be  not  at  all  concerned  about  external 
ornament  and  strict  laws  of  art."  * 

The  book  of  Genesis  is  very  attractive  on  account  of  this 
quality,  particularly  in  the  original.  Its  artless,  unpretend- 
ing narratives  are  inimitable,  unless  it  be  in  the  pages  of 
Homer.  A  quarto  volume  was  published  in  1659,  by  Pro- 
fessor James  Duport  of  Cambridge,  England,  a  principal 
object  of  which  is  to  cite  the  analogous  passages  in  Homer 
and  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 

A  third  characteristic  of  Hebrew  poetry  is  its  vivacity. 
With  whatever  deficiencies  it  is  chargeable,  no  one  can 
complain  of  its  dulness.  Its  genius,  its  whole  movement, 
is  spirited,  perhaps  beyond  that  of  any  Occidental  poetry. 
This  is  owing  to  several  causes. 

•Ewald. 


HEBREW    POETRY.  407 

The  language  is  full  of  life.  Its  entire  structure  is  re- 
markably fitted  for  lyrical  effect.  The  verb,  adapted  to 
express  every  variety  of  action  and  passion,  contains  the 
substance  of  the  language.  It  is  developed  in  some  re- 
spects more  fully  than  any  Western  dialect.  The  verb  is 
wonderfully  expressive.  The  number  of  adjectives  and  ab- 
stract nouns  is  extremely  small.  And  these  are  mostly  de- 
rived from  verbs,  or  are  themselves  infinitives,  and  partake 
of  the  living  nature  of  their  root.  In  the  English  language 
the  great  number  of  particles  is  a  serious  impediment  to  the 
free  movement  of  poetry.  Prepositions  and  other  connec- 
tives impart  logical  precision  to  a  sentence,  but  it  is  at  the 
expense  of  its  fire  and  energy.  The  Hebrew  particles  are 
very  few,  and  some  of  them  exhibit  a  doubly  compound 
relation,  and  thus  greatly  contribute  to  the  vivacity  of  a 
sentence. 

Again,  the  poet  was  not  educated  in  the  schools.  A  life 
of  cloistered  meditation  was  unknown  to  him.  His  days 
were  crowded  with  great  events.  David,  from  the  time  of 
his  conflict  with  the  Philistine  till  his  death,  had  scarcely 
a  moment  of  rest.  He  poured  forth  his  plaintive  songs 
when  hunted  as  a  partridge  on  the  mountains,  in  a  cave 
watched  by  his  unrelenting  foe,  or  when  driven  from  his 
throne,  an  exile  beyond  Jordan,  or  when  marching  at  the 
head  of  a  victorious  army.  Consequently,  his  imagery 
would  be  that  of  external  nature,  colored  by  the  deep  and 
varied  emotions  of  his  heart.  The  prominent  objects  in 
Palestine  would  strongly  arrest  his  attention,  and  every- 
where reappear  in  his  poems.  The  case  was  not  materially 
different  with  other  great  poets.  Habakkuk  seems  to  have 
written  amid  the  horrors  of  a  Chaldean  invasion.  Jeremiah 
was  in  Jerusalem  when  it  was  taken  by  the  Babylonians. 


408  HEBREW   POETRY. 

He  poured  forth  his  wailing  notes  as  he  wandered  over  the 
ashes  of  Solomon's  temple,  amid  sounds  and  sights  that 
would  have  agonized  a  heart  less  tender  than  his  own. 
The  restless  life  of  the  poet  is,  therefore,  a  principal  cause 
of  the  choice  of  his  figures  and  of  the  impetuous  movement 
of  his  verse.  One  conversant  with  the  sterner  exhibitions  of 
outward  nature,  or  harassed  by  conflicting  emotions,  would 
naturally  adopt  a  vivacious  diction. 

Again,  the  lively  style  is  in  part  owing  to  the  condensed 
brevity  of  many  of  the  poems.  Some  of  the  writers  would 
seem  almost  to  make  it  an  object  to.  use  as  few  words  as 
possible.  The  burdened  heart  would  not  allow  them  to 
stop  fully  to  express  the  idea.  Their  spiritual  vision  darted 
too  rapidly  from  object  to  object,  to  permit  them  to  linger 
on  the  mere  costume  of  the  thought.  The  entire  books  of 
Nahum,  Hosea,  Micah,  Habakkuk,  and  some  of  the  Psalms, 
are  written  in  an  exceedingly  abrupt  and  condensed  style. 
The  hundred  and  tenth  Psalm  includes  a  kind  of  epic  poem 
in  seven  verses,  much  more  being  left  to  the  imagination  of 
the  reader  than  is  expressed  in  words. 

A  fourth  marked  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew  Muse  is 
pathos.  Perhaps  this  point  can  be  best  illustrated  by  a 
comparison  with  Greek  poetry.  The  causes  of  the  superi- 
ority of  the  Hebrew  can  be  shown  in  a  number  of  particu- 
lars. The  Jew  had  a  warmer  affection  for  his  native  land 
than  the  Greek.  The  latter  was  restless,  aspiring,  disposed 
to  seek  his  fortunes  wherever  he  could  find  them,  —  an  ex- 
act prototype  of  a  large  part  of  our  own  population,  ever  in 
search  for  some  new  Dorado.  Greek  colonies  voluntarily 
established  themselves  in  Bactria,  almost  on  the  western 
borders  of  China.  Our  interest  in  Xenophon's  Retreat  of 
the  Ten  Thousand  is  greatly  weakened  towards  the  close. 


HEBREW   POETRY.  40^ 

when  we  see  the  indifference  of  the  soldiers  in  relation  to 
their  old  home.  But  the  Jew  would  not  leave  his  native  soil 
till  he  was  torn  from  it ;  he  had  little  curiosity  to  tempt  him 
away,  every  inducement  to  stay  at  home.  This  rooted  at- 
tachment to  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Holy  Land  is  in- 
wrought into  much  of  his  poetiy. 

Again,  the  Jew  had  purer  and  stronger  domestic  affec- 
tions than  the  Greek.  This  is  owing  greatly  to  the  fact, 
that  the  Hebrew  possessed  the  true  religion,  while  the  my- 
thology and  political  institutions  of  the  Greeks  exerted  in 
many  respects  a  debasing  influence  on  the  social  character. 
The  direct  tendency  of  the  laws  of  Lycurgus  was  to  merge 
the  family  in  the  State.  No  matter  what  became  of  the 
household,  if  the  Commonwealth  flourished.  The  social 
state  was  no  better  in  Athens.  There  was  little  to  choose 
between  the  slave  and  the  free  woman.  The  twenty  thou- 
sand freemen  lived  in  public  almost  exclusively.  They 
were  on  board  the  ships,  or  strolling  in  the  market,  or  in 
the  walks  of  the  Lyceum  and  the  Academy.  Pure  domes- 
tic feeling,  as  a  general  thing,  did  not  exist.  Of  course  the 
national  poetry  must  suffer. 

The  religion  of  the  Hebrews  was  fitted  to  awaken  intense 
emotions.  It  presented  the  true  God  to  the  Hebrew  in  such 
a  light,  as  to  elicit  feelings  to  which  the  Greek  was  a  stran- 
ger. A  poet  who  could  pen  the  fifty-first  Psalm  must 
have  possessed  a  soul  of  the  deepest  susceptibility  and  ten- 
derness. The  tide  of  emotion  will  rise  in  accordance  with 
the  elevation  and  profoundness  of  the  thought.  If  the  He- 
brew was  admitted  to  a  higher  region  of  conception,  his 
emotions  would  in  a  great  measure  correspond. 

The  question  discussed  in  the  book  of  Job  is  one  of  the 
most  difficult  in  theological  science.     Why  does  not  a  just 

VOL.  II.  35 


410  HEBREW    POETRY. 

God  treat  men  in  the  present  life  according  to  their  char- 
acter ?  Why  does  vice  so  often  go  unpunished  ?  Job's 
friends  cut  the  knot  by  denying  the  fact.  To  uphold  their 
side  of  the  question,  they  misrepresented  the  general  expe- 
rience of  man.  Job  felt  the  difficulty,  but  could  not  solve 
it.  He  was  fully  conscious  of  his  own  integrity,  and  he 
could  not  see  why  he  was  visited  with  such  unparalleled 
sufferings.  To  the  depth  of  emotion  consequent  on  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  theological  question,  the  whole  compass  of 
Greek  poetry,  perhaps,  supplies  no  parallel.  The  wretched 
fortunes  of  CEdipus  or  Medea  could  not  possibly  create  such 
a  conflict. 

"  My  face  is  red  with  weeping, 

And  on  my  eyelashes  is  the  shadow  of  death, 

Not  for  any  violence  in  my  hands, 

And  my  prayer  is  pure ; 

O  earth,  cover  not  my  blood, 

And  let  there  be  no  place  to  hide  my  cry  !  " 

The  eighty-eighth  Psalm  is  a  specimen  of  elegiac  paint- 
ing of  inconsolable  sorrow,  with  which  but  few  compositions 
can  be  compared.  The  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  are  re- 
markable for  unaffected  pathos,  for  sorrow  delicately  ex- 
pressed and  that  refuses  to  be  comforted.  The  passages 
in  Greek  poetry  which  approach  nearest  to  them  in  pathos 
are  the  elegies  of  Tyrtoeus,  a  scene  in  CEdipus  Coloneus, 
where  the  blind  old  man  complains  to  his  heart-stricken 
daughter,  and  scenes  in  the  Iliad  which  describe  the  death 
of  Priam,  or  the  grief  of  Achilles  for  Patroclus. 

The  fifth  marked  characteristic  of  Hebrew  poetry  is 
sublimity.  In  the  quality  of  beauty,  especially  in  all  which 
regards  the  form,  Greek  poetry  has  doubtless  the  advan- 
tage.    Greece  has  a  finer  climate  than   Palestine.     The 


1  HEBREW    POETRY.  4l4 

country  is  so  situated  in  the  north  temperate  zone,  defended 
by  mountains  on  its  north,  interlocked  and  elegantly  varie- 
gated by  seas  and  islands,  as  to  produce  a  temperature  cold 
enough  to  brace  the  intellect  without  benumbing  it,  and 
warm  enough  to  call  into  play  the  finer  affections  of  the 
soul,  without  wasting  its  energies  in  a  soft  effeminacy.  All 
the  literary  productions  of  the  Greeks,  the  poetry  particu- 
larly, bear  witness  to  the  purity  and  elasticity  of  the  atmos- 
phere. 

The  Greek  language,  too,  is  far  better  fitted  for  a  grace- 
ful literature  than  the  Hebrew.  It  is  more  flexible,  proba- 
bly, than  any  other  dialect  ever  spoken  by  man.  It  is  most 
exactly  fitted  to  those  who  were  said  to  be  born  with  a  love 
of  beautiful  forms  and  sweet  sounds.  The  love  for  beauty 
among  the  Greeks  was  cultivated  to  an  extraordinary  de- 
gree. In  an  old  ode,  ascribed  to  Simonides,  the  first  of 
the  four  wishes  was  to  be  healthy,  the  second  to  be  beau- 
tiful, the  third  to  be  rich  honestly,  the  fourth  to  be  gay  and 
merry  with  one's  friends.  Beauty  w^as  an  excellence  which 
led  to  fame  ;  every  beautiful  person  sought  to  be  known. 
Some  persons  were  characterized  by  a  particular  name, 
derived  from  some  beautiful  part  of  the  body  ;  e.  g.  Deme- 
trius Poliorcetes  was  called,  from  the  beauty  of  his  eyelids, 
XapiTo^\e(j)apos,  on  whose  lids  the  Graces  dwell.  At  Sparta, 
Lesbos,  Parrhasia,  the  women  contended  for  the  prize  of 
beauty.  The  Hebrew  has  so  many  gutturals,  sibilants,  and 
other  harsh  letters,  as  to  make  the  enunciation  rather  grat- 
ing and  monotonous. 

Another  important  circumstance  was,  that  the  Jews  were 
intended  to  be  a  religious  people,  not  a  commercial  or 
a  literary  community,  but  to  act  as  a  depositary  of  the 
Divine  Word.     A  variety  of  expedients  were  adopted  to 


412  HEBREW    POETRY. 

exclude  all  articles  of  luxury  and  extravagance.  The  later 
prophets  utter  frequent  complaints  against  a  voluptuous 
style  of  house  architecture,  music,  and  living,  which  was 
creeping  in  at  Samaria  and  Jerusalem.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  how  totally  unlike  were  the  Greeks.  All  things 
conspired  to  make  them  a  nation  of  beautiful  artists  and 
highly  cultivated  poets  and  scholars  ;  of  course,  their  poetry 
would  possess  a  grace,  a  flexibility,  a  finer  texture  and 
outward  form,  than  any  Oriental  poetry  could  aspire  to. 

But  in  regard  to  sublimity  the  circumstances  were  dif- 
ferent. Though  Palestine  is  not  so  beautiful  a  country  as 
Greece,  yet  it  is  better  fitted  to  awaken  emotions  of  grand- 
eur. One  can  stand  on  Lebanon,  and  over  the  level  bosom 
of  the  Mediterranean  see  the  sun  setting  without  an  inter- 
vening object.  The  same  sun,  rising  over  the  wide  desert 
south  of  Judea,  awakens  a  peculiar  class  of  emotions,  with 
which  nothing  Grecian  can  be  compared.  Tempests,  thun- 
der, lightning,  have  a  more  terrible  commission  to  perform 
in  Palestine  than  in  Greece. 

Again,  the  Hebrew  poets  are  more  entirely  the  children 
of  nature.  They  may  sometimes  offend  against  what  Vol- 
taire or  Lord  Chesterfield  would  call  good  taste.  But  they 
are  sure  to  rise  higher  than  the  fastidiously  cultivated  Athe- 
nian. Their  figures  are  bolder,  the  current  of  their  thought 
more  impetuous,  their  aspirations  freer,  than  would  have 
been  possible,  if  they  had  been  thinking  of  the  laws  of  har- 
mony or  of  the  canons  of  taste.  The  parallelism  is  pecu- 
liarly the  product  of  nature.  It  could  rise  suddenly  into  a 
climax,  or  array  one  member  against  another  in  the  sharp- 
est antithesis,  or  it  would  admit  of  a  continued  series  of  the 
boldest  personifications.  What  made  the  Greek  a  beauti- 
ful poet,  detracted  to  a  certain  extent  from  his  lyrical  power. 


HEBREW    POETRY.  413 

But  the  great,  inestimable  advantage  for  the  Hebrew  was 
his  religion.  He  did  not  look  at  the  course  of  nature,  as 
the  Greek  did,  through  the  medium  of  an  inconsistent  or 
ridiculous  mythology.  The  Jewish  history  was  commenced 
and  carried  on  in  a  series  of  stupendous  miracles,  so  varied, 
so  felt  or  described,  as  to  fix  themselves  on  the  imagina- 
tive Hebrew  to  the  latest  ages.  "  The  ancient  Hebrew 
poetry  was  animated  by  those  sublime  thoughts,  which  in 
such  purity,  power,  and  consistency  are  found  nowhere 
else.  Their  poetry  had  no  other  way  to  become  great  and 
unique,  than  in  this  sole  tendency  to  the  sublime."  Almost 
the  first  sentence  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  struck  the  heathen 
critic,  Longinus,  as  unmatched  for  sublimity ;  yet  this  is 
but  one  of  a  thousand  with  which  that  Bible  abounds.  By 
universal  consent,  the  passages  which  are  sublimest  in  the 
Greek  poets,  are  those  which  make  the  nearest  approach 
to  the  Hebrew  delineation  of  God  and  his  attributes.  Yet 
here  the  mythology  comes  in  to  weaken  or  confuse  the  im- 
pression. That  great  passage  in  Homer,  where  the  gods 
mingle  in  the  conflict,  is  injured  by  the  incongruity  of  rep- 
resenting them  as  visible  and  tangible  objects,  while  the 
warrior-angels  who  were  sent  to  the  aid  of  the  prophet 
Elisha  could  not  be  seen  except  by  a  supernatural  vision. 


35 


IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH  THEOLOGICAL 
EDUCATION.* 


On  what  mainly  does  the  importance  of  a  thorough  and 
protracted  theological  education  depend  ?  What  are  the 
principal  grounds  on  which  the  propriety  of  three  or  four 
years  of  study  rests  ? 

I.  On  the  extent  and  difficulty  of  the  subjects  included  in 
a  course  of  theological  study.  The  bare  statement  of  this 
course  should  seem  to  be  sufficient.  It  includes  in  sub- 
stance an  exact  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  the  Bible,  an 
arrangement  of  its  scattered  truths  into  an  orderly  system, 
and  an  acquaintance  with  the  effects  which  these  truths  have 
produced  on  the  human  mind  and  heart  in  all  the  countries 
where  they  have  been  made  known. 

The  extent  of  the  subject,  and  the  inherent  difficulties  of 
it,  may  be  illustrated  in  a  variety  of  ways.  The  Bible  is  a 
great  and  congruous  whole.  It  is  eminently  characterized 
by  unity  of  design  and  symmetry  of  parts.  Yet  it  is  of 
the  most  varied  and  dissimilar  contents.     It  is  a  series  of 

*  This  is  one  of  the  Introductory  Lectures  delivered  by  Pro- 
fessor Edwards  before  the  three  classes  of  Andover  Theological 
Seminary. 


THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION.  415 

personal  narratives  fully  drawn  out,  or  mixed  with  itiner- 
aries and  lists  of  names  ;  I'egular  poems,  interspersed  with 
simple  and  sublime  lyrics;  grave  histories,  followed  by  fa- 
miliar letters  ;  sometimes  branching  out  into  the  profoundest 
discussions,  interrupted  by  passionate  elegiac  strains,  or  by 
the  obscure  symbols  of  the  prophet,  all  variously  colored 
by  the  changes  of  four  thousand  years.  Suppose  we  were 
required  to  master  a  large  volume  of  Greek  and  Roman  lit- 
erature, —  the  history  of  Thucydides,  the  Odes  of  Pindar,  the 
epics  of  Homer,  the  Dialogues  of  Plato,  the  poems  of  Lu- 
cretius, the  Letters  of  Cicero,  —  would  it  not  require  some 
time  and  diligent  study  to  comprehend  their  various  con- 
tents ?  Would  a  year's  application  do  any  thing  more  than 
effect  an  entrance  into  this  golden  treasure-house  ?  Yet 
there  are  those  who  appear  to  think  that  one  year  of  per- 
haps often-interrupted  study,  will  qualify  them  to  become 
public  expounders  of  a  series  of  works  written  during  the 
lapse  of  two  thousand  years. 

Some  of  the  ablest  scholars  have  spent  a  large  portion  of 
their  lives  in  writing  treatises  on  single  Greek  words. 
Volumes  have  been  written  on  the  article.  This  is  not  con- 
sidered lost  labor.  On  the  meaning  of  an  insignificant  par- 
ticle turn  some  of  the  deepest  questions,  not  only  in  phi- 
lology, but  in  morals  and  religion.  Adequately  to  explain 
that  particle,  demands  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
laws  and  operations  of  the  human  mind.  And  if  this  is  true 
in  the  Greek  of  the  classics,  how  much  more  is  it  in  that  of 
the  New  Testament !  If  a  man  may  lawfully  employ  a  life 
in  tracing  out  a  Greek  inscription  of  five  lines  on  a  monu- 
ment, may  he  not  employ  a  few  months  in  trying  to  compre- 
hend some  of  the  truths  wrapped  up  in  such  words  as  Trt'o-rty, 
Xdyos,  diKaLoa-vprj,  and  nv^i/jxa  ?     With  attempts  to  unfold  their 


416  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

meaning,  church  history  is  crowded  ;  and  yet  how  much 
undiscovered  land  remains  !  Who  is  able  to  tell  why  John 
made  use  of  the  word  Logos  to  describe  the  incarnate  Son  ? 
What  was  the  precise  idea,  as  well  as  the  origin  of  the  idea, 
which  he  intended  to  communicate  by  it  ?  If,  therefore, 
years  of  the  closest  study,  in  the  maturest  part  of  a  scholar's 
hfe,  are  well  spent  in  detecting  shades  of  thought  in  a  few 
Latin  synonymes,  is  not  longer  time  and  profounder  study 
necessary  in  examining  words  which  are  the  hinges  of  the 
Christian  faith  ?  If  the  minute,  searching  investigations, 
in  the  former  case,  which  every  one  justifies,  show  the  ex- 
tent and  difficulty  of  the  subject,  do  they  not  show  the  same 
in  the  latter  ? 

Again,  theological  study  borders  on  other  subjects  of 
vital  importance,  and  presupposes  an  acquaintance  with 
them.  All  truth  is  not  fitted  to  all  minds,  or  to  the  same 
mind  in  all  circumstances.  Hence  the  theological  student 
should  know,  not  only  what  the  human  mind  is  in  general, 
but  what  are  its  varieties,  its  individual  weaknesses,  the  end- 
lessly diversified  phases  under  which  it  acts.  He  will  be 
required  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth.  But  how  can 
he  do  this  unless  he  be  familiar  with  the  characteristic  dif- 
ferences among  his  hearers  ?  There  are  the  same  original 
faculties  in  all,  but  how  greatly  are  they  modified  by  early 
defects  in  education,  by  afflictions,  by  external  nature,  by 
age,  and  a  thousand  other  circumstances !  Must  he  not 
know  something  of  these  ?  Can  he  otherwise  shape  his 
message  to  the  exigencies  of  his  hearers  ?  Must  he  not  have 
often  watched  the  different  effect  of  Divine  truth  on  his  own 
mind  at  different  times,  —  what  it  is  which  weakens  the  power 
of  motives,  enfeebles  the  will,  obscures  the  perception,  or 
confounds  the  judgment  ?    Unless  he  have  something  more 


THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION.  417 

than  a  general  acquaintance  with  the  movements  of  his 
own  mind,  he  will  be  an  unskilful  preacher. 

Xhe  same  remarks  are  applicable  to  the  subjects  of  ethics 
and  casuistry.  These  are  not  necessary  parts  of  theolog- 
ical study.  Yet  how  intimate  and  various  are  their  relations 
to  it.  How  large  a  part  of  a  minister's  life  is  occupied  in 
carrying  out  the  great  principles  of  the  moral  law  ;  in  show- 
ing the  applicability,  or  the  contrary,  of  a  particular  rule  of 
duty  to  a  particular  case  ;  in  pointing  out  where  a  justifiable 
expediency  ends,  and  a  criminal  conformity  to  the  world 
begins  ;  and  in  relieving  the  perplexed  mind,  sometimes  on 
points  involving  the  hardest  questions  of  casuistiy  ! 

Again,  theology  not  only  touches  upon  profound  truths, 
but  it  has  among  them  its  native  home.  Like  astronomy, 
it  is  conversant  with  the  great  things  of  God.  Other  sub- 
jects may  comprise  some  vital  truths  ;  but  this  is  the  case,  in 
general,  according  as  they  approach  Christianity.  That  in 
Plato  and  Cicero  which  interests  us  most  profoundly,  per- 
tains to  the  nature  and  destiny  of  the  soul.  We  are  not 
thoroughly  absorbed  in  Virgil,  till,  in  the  sixth  book,  he 
crosses  the  barrier  of  time. 

That  which  attracts  us  in  the  Koran  is  its  theology. 
Amid  all  its  childish  incoherences,  there  are  many  things 
which  indicate  the  restlessness  of  the  human  spirit,  whpn  it 
has  not  a  consistent  religious  belief.  In  the  truths  of  Chris- 
tian theology,  we  find  that  which  satisfies  our  minds  when 
they  are  most  capable  of  reflection,  when  they  are  in  a 
state  for  the  calmest  meditation.  And  in  proportion  as 
they  are  freed  from  blinding  and  depressing  influences, 
they  will  reveal  their  affinity  for  theological  truth.  It  is 
really  their  only  congenial  nutriment,  that  only  which  meets 
their  deepest  aspirations.      Can  a  system,  then,  of  such 


418  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

wide  reach,  and  of  so  profound  a  meaning,  be  grasped  by 

a  desultory  effort  ?  Can  we  apprehend  and  classify  its 
truths  by  a  few  months  of  study  ?  We  are  called  to  inves- 
tigate questions  which  exercised  the  understandings  of 
Augustine  and  Calvin,  which  attuned  the  musical  soul  of 
Ambrose,  which  filled  the  one-windowed  cell  of  Luther  at 
Erfurt  with  heavenly  light,  —  those  hard,  yet  practical  prob- 
lems, which  have  tasked  the  greatest  minds  of  every  age. 
Melancthon,  a  few  days  before  his  death,  put  down  the  rea- 
sons why  he  should  not  be  afraid  of  death.  One  of  these 
was  :  "  Thou  shalt  learn  those  wonderful  mysteries  which 
thou  couldst  not  understand  in  this  life,  —  why  w^e  are 
made  as  we  are,  and  of  what  kind  is  the  union  of  the  two 
natures  in  Christ." 

II.  This  necessity  results  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
study.  It  is  not  the  laws  of  physical  science  ;  it  is  not 
mere  intellectual  propositions  ;  it  is  not  ahstract  science, 
with  which  we  have  little  practical  concern  ;  it  is  moral 
truths,  truths  vital  with  salutary  influence,  for  us  to  ob- 
serve and  derive  benefit  from  while  we  are  studying  them. 
There  is  a  twofold  process.  We  are  to  comprehend  them 
intellectually,  and  enjoy  them  spiritually.  We  cannot  un- 
derstand them  fully  without  taking  time  to  bring  our  hearts 
into  contact  with  them.  The  moral  eye  must  be  single. 
We  must  be  free  from  prejudices,  prepossessions,  from  sen- 
sual and  worldly  desires.  In  other  words,  we  cannot  take 
them  up  and  handle  them,  as  we  do  mathematical  truths, 
and  then  dismiss  them.  They  are  nutriment  to  the  soul, 
to  be  incorporated,  as  it  were,  with  our  moral  life.  We 
are  to  make  self-application  of  them,  both  for  our  own  im- 
mediate moral  benefit,  and  that  we  may  more  adequately 


THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION.'  419 

understand  them.  The  advice  was  once  given  to  a  clergy- 
man, not  to  preach  on  the  death  of  children  till  he  had  lost 
one  of  his  own.  So,  we  cannot  preach  in  a  truly  heartfelt, 
sympathizing  manner  on  the  truths  of  redemption,  till  we 
have  studied  them  with  all  our  moral  susceptibilities  awake, 
—  till  we  have  both  perceived  and  felt  their  fitness  to  our 
wants.  But  this  presupposes  time,  personal  meditation, 
earnest  prayer ;  it  may  be  called  a  lengthened  process  of 
spiritual  assimilation. 

III.  The  importance  of  an  extended  theological  course 
depends  in  part  on  the  beneficial  influence  which  it  exerts  on 
the  7nind  of  the  student.  The  direct  object  is  not,  indeed, 
the  benefit  of  the  intellect.  Its  great  purpose  is  instruction, 
the  communication  of  truth,  not  the  intellectual  education 
of  the  faculties.  Still,  the  latter  is  a  valuable  indirect  or  me- 
diate influence.  The  three  years'  course  forms  somewhat  of 
a  circle  of  subjects,  benefiting  various  faculties  of  the  mind. 

The  first  year  is  devoted  to  the  study  of  language.  Two 
prominent  effects  follow  thorough  investigations  of  this 
kind.  One  is  an  exact  acquaintance  with  the  import  of 
words,  a  discriminating  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the 
terms  which  pass  under  the  eye,  a  delicate  sense  of  the 
difference  between  words  which  are  commonly  regarded  as 
synonymous.  A  mind  thus  trained  acquires  a  kind  of 
secon(3-sight,  a  species  of  tact,  a  power  of  almost  intuitive 
perception,  which  instinctively  detects  shades  of  meaning, 
nice  resemblances,  or  scarcely  perceptible  contrasts.  This 
is  one  of  the  sources  of  a  correct  taste.  The  scholar  thus 
exercised  will  avoid  ambiguities,  unnecessary  epithets,  pro- 
lixity. If  there  be  one  word  only  which  will  lodge  the  idea 
in  the  hearpr's  mind,  fjiaf  be  does  not  really  select ;  it  comes 


420  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

without  bidding.  There  are  many  writers  who  convey  their 
meaning  tohrably  well.  On  the  whole,  we  are  at  little  loss 
in  understanding  them.  But  they  do  not  produce  the  deep- 
est impression,  because  they  do  not  employ  the  precise 
word  which  was  demanded.  They  choose  one  somewhere 
in  the  vicinity,  —  a  synonyme,  perhaps,  —  but  not  the  term 
of  all  others  fitted  to  the  place.  They  have  not  that  curi- 
osa  felicitas  which  the  Roman  writers  speak  of. 

The  other  effect  of  the  study  of  languages  is  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  large  stock  of  words.  The  diligent  philologist 
returns  from  his  investigations  richly  laden.  His  studies 
have  made  him  acquainted  with  the  history  of  words,  with 
their  multiplied  branches  and  ramifications,  with  the  asso- 
ciations which  cluster  around  them.  He  has  consequently 
laid  in  a  fund  for  a  time  of  need.  For  the  sake  of  variety, 
of  deepening  an  impression,  or  of  vivid  illustration,  he  can 
clothe  his  thoughts  in  the  freshest  costume,  when  hack- 
neyed terms,  stereotyped  phraseology,  though  perfectly  ap- 
propriate, would  only  weary  or  disgust.  The  poet  Cowper, 
there  is  no  doubt,  owed,  in  pai't,  his  ready  command  of 
beautiful  and  felicitous  language  to  his  unwearied  study  of 
the  great  Grecian  epic.  Sir  William  Jones,  in  respect  to 
readiness  and  variety  of  address,  was  perhaps  the  most  ac- 
complished man  of  his  age.  This  was  owing,  in  a  measure, 
to  his  extraordinary  "  gift  of  tongues." 

The  beneficial  effects  of  the  study  of  systematic  theolo- 
gy are  obvious  in  giving  strength,  and  also  logical  precision, 
to  the  understanding.  We  cannot  master  a  coherent  sys- 
tem of  truth,  without  receiving  a  twofold  benefit.  Fresh 
thoughts,  new  relations,  are  perceived,  while  the  instrument 
itself  is  perfected.  The  mind  is  both  instructed  and  disci- 
plined.   Each  truth  in  theology  has  its  appropriate  evidence, 


THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION."  421 

something  which  will  more  clearly  demonstrate  it  than  any 
thing  else.  Here  is  required  the  process  of  abstraction. 
We  fasten  our  mind  only  upon  that  which  is  pertinent. 
We  learn  to  look  steadily  at  the  real  point  in  debate,  ex- 
cluding all  unrelated  ideas  ;  a  habit  which  is  of  inestimable 
importance.  Again,  each  truth  is  related  to  the  other  in  a 
manner  befitting  its  place  in  the  system.  It  has  a  link  of 
its  own.  In  ascertaining  these  appropriate  connections,  we 
are  forming  a  logical  habit.  We  are  accustoming  ourselves 
to  look  at  truth  as  a  related  and  indissoluble  whole.  There 
is  an  interdependence  among  theological  truths  which  is  not 
obvious  at  first  view. 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  overstate  a  doctrine,  — 
to  present  it  in  the  boldest  relief,  as  an  independent,  isolated 
fact,  —  and  thus  error  is  virtually  taught.  To  perceive  the 
harmony  of  Divine  truth,  how  insensibly  one  color  blends 
with  another,  in  what  manner  one  fact  is  the  basis,  or  the 
complement,  or  the  ornament  of  a  related  fact,  is  an  in- 
teresting branch  of  theological  study.  If  such  study  is  pur- 
sued faithfully,  a  well-trained  intellect  will  be  the  result,  as 
certainly  as  it  will  be  in  the  study  of  geometry.  Order 
will  be  the  law  of  the  intellect.  It  will  become  natural  and 
easy  for  the  mind  to  look  at  other  subjects  in  their  just  rela- 
tions. It  is  sometimes  said,  that  there  is  no  system  in  the 
Bible ;  that  study  of  its  unconnected  parts  is  all  which 
a  clergyman  needs.  But  it  is  impossible  for  an  intelligent 
man  to  read  the  Scriptures  without  forming  their  truths  into 
some  kind  of  system.  The  nature  of  the  mind  renders  this 
system  necessary.  And  the  more  perfectly  we  form  the 
system,  provided  we  do  no  violence  to  the  text,  the  better 
we  shall  understand  the  truth,  and  the  more  perfectly 
trained  will  be  our  intellectual  powers. 

VOL.  II.  36 


422  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

The  study  of  the  history  of  the  Church  has  two  promi- 
nent intellectual  effects.  It  strengthens  the  mind  and  gives 
comprehensiveness  to  the  views.  No  one  can  study  history 
to  much  advantage,  who  does  not  take  some  method  to 
classify  the  multifarious  facts;  so  to  arrange  them  that  he 
can  instantly  recall  them  in  a  time  of  need ;  often  review- 
ing them  without  any  aid  from  the  written  page.  In  this 
manner,  one  of  the  most  important  faculties  for  him  who  is 
to  be  a  public  teacher  will  attain  a  vigorous  growth. 

A  mere  glance  at  the  boundless  field  of  church  history 
will  show,  that  it  is  eminently  fitted  to  enlarge  the  views. 
How  has  the  Bible  been  understood  .'  What  effect  has  it 
had  on  the  heart  and  life  in  all  parts  of  Christendom  .'' 
How  has  it  been  modified  by  philosophical  systems,  by 
Oriental  fancy,  by  political  interference,  by  Occidental  sub- 
tlety, by  individual  temperament  ?  To  what  forms  of 
church  government  has  it  the  closest  fitnesses  .''  How  has 
it  been  connected  with  the  progress  of  civilization  and  secu- 
lar learning .?  The  mere  propounding  of  a  few  questions 
like  these  will  show  the  compass  of  the  subject,  and  the  cor- 
responding enlargement  which  its  faithful  study  will  impart. 

To  the  remaining  department  I  do  not  advert,  as  it  is  so 
mingled  in  its  intellectual  effects  with  all  the  others.  The 
composition  of  a  sermon  demands  exegetical  skill,  clear  and 
logical  statement  of  doctrine,  and  often  an  impressive  appeal 
to  the  experience  of  the  Church. 

A  study  which  is  followed  by  such  results,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say,  presupposes  an  extended  and  complete 
course.  Brief  and  often-intermitted  attention  to  a  subject 
will  do  very  little  towards  disciplining  the  mind.  On  the 
contrary,  its  effect  may  be  only  to  weary  and  debilitate. 
The  student  may  become  disgusted  with  philology  ;  he  may 


THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION. 

feel  that  divinity  is,  what  its  systems  are  sometimes  called, 
a  corpus,  a  dead  body,  and  that  church  history  is  a  confused 
jumble  of  heterogeneous  facts,  —  no  binding  chain  running 
through  them.  Patient  and  protracted  study  is  absolutely 
necessary,  if  we  wish  to  have  the  pursuit  sharpen  and 
strengthen  our  faculties. 

IV.  The  importance  of  a  thorough  and  protracted  course 
of  study  depends  in  a  measure  on  its  vioral  effects.  These 
effects  ai'e  various.     I  will  allude  to  only  one  or  two  of  them. 

A  broken  and  partial  course  of  intellectual  discipline  is 
apt  to  produce  an  injurious  effect  on  the  moral  feelings. 
These  will  inevitably  partake  of  the  character  of  the  mental 
processes.  If  the  latter  are  disorderly  or  defective,  the 
former  will  sympathize  in  the  confusion.  If  the  mind  does 
not  accustom  itself  to  reflect  patiently,  the  feelings  will  lose 
their  appropriate,  cheerful  serenity.  If  the  mind  be  full  of 
doubts  and  perturbations,  the  head  will  be  also.  The  con- 
science too,  unless  obscured  and  blinded,  will  utter  remon- 
strances in  the  face  of  its  delaying  and  vacillating  compan- 
ion. In  order  to  secure  a  tranquil  state  of  the  emotions,  it 
is  indispensable  that  the  scholar  should  acquire  and  maintain 
those  intellectual  habits,  which  common  sense  and  con- 
science alike  teach  to  be  his  duty. 

Again,  symmetry  in  one  class  of  our  faculties  will  tend 
to  produce  the  same  in  all  the  others.  The  affections,  the 
power  of  willing,  the  moral  sense,  are  partly  dependent  for 
their  growth  on  intellectual  nourishment.  They  feed  upon 
appropriate  truth.  They  are  developed  by  the  rain  and. 
sunshine  supplied  by  the  study  of  the  Divine  works  and 
word.  But  these  must  be  the  subjects  of  earnest  medita- 
tion in  all  their  parts,  else  some  one  of  the  dependent  moral 


424  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

affections  will  be  left  destitute  of  its  befitting  means  of 
growth.  It  is  possible  that  the  study  of  a  doctrinal  system 
may  tend  to  form  habits  of  energy  and  decision,  rather  than 
to  promote  the  growth  of  the  more  delicate  affections.  These 
will  be  cherished  as  the  mind  is  intent  on  the  simple  mean- 
ing of  the  Scriptures,  or  while  one  is  perusing  those  records 
that  describe  the  heroic  constancy  with  which  the  truth  has 
been  professed  in  seasons  of  imminent  peril.  The  more 
we  study  truth  as  a  whole,  or,  in  other  words,  the  more  fully 
we  discover  it  in  its  original  sources,  the  more  closely  we 
examine  it  in  the  regular  channels  in  which  it  was  after- 
wards made  to  flow,  and  in  the  blessed  effects  which  its 
fertilizing  waters  have  produced,  the  more  perfectly  will 
our  entire  nature  grow  up  under  its  healing  influences. 

V.  The  necessity  of  this  ample  training  may  be  illustrated 
from  certain  aspects  and  tendencies  of  the  present  age. 
Here  it  will  be  necessary  to  discriminate.  It  is  not  enough 
to  say,  that  our  country,  or  the  present  generation,  are  dis- 
tinguished by  intense  excitability.  The  past  generation, 
from  1790  to  1815,  throughout  Christendom,  lived  in  a  fever 
of  excitement.  Political  animosities  never  raged  so  fear- 
fully among  us,  perhaps,  as  in  1809.  The  religious  world 
has  scarcely  ever  been  more  thoroughly  aroused,  than  by 
the  controversies  occasioned  by  the  preaching  of  Whitefield 
in  the  last  century.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  pres- 
ent is  a  superficial  age.  It  is  true,  and  it  is  not  true.  Other 
times  have  been  characterized  in  certain  respects,  or  among 
,  certain  classes,  by  profounder  thought,  by  a  more  earnest, 
devotional  spirit,  by  iron  habits  of  study.  Still  it  would  be 
unjust  to  make  the  general  charge  against  our  contempo- 
raries, that  their  knowledge  is  shallow,  and  their  intellect- 
ual and  moral  habits  desultory. 


THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  425 

In  characterizing  briefly  the  present  generation,  it  may 
be  remarked,  first,  that  there  is  a  large  class,  whose  reading 
is  extremely  miscellaneous,  whose  ideas  on  all  subjects  are 
vague,  who  have  no  command  over  their  states  of  mind, 
who  are  the  victims  of  the  latest  excitement.  There  is  a 
numerous  population  in  the  great  towns  and  cities,  espe- 
cially of  females,  whose  tastes  are  altogether  frivolous,  who 
possess  the  accomplishments  without  the  substance  of  an 
education,  who  are  impatient  of  restraint,  the  morbid  votaries 
of  fashion.  This  tendency  has  been  created  and  fostered 
by  a  variety  of  causes  :  by  the  sudden  influx  of  wealth, 
releasing  multitudes  from  personal  responsibility ;  by  the 
immense  stores  of  light  reading  which  have  been  thrown 
upon  the  community ;  by  the  rapidity  with  which  news  is 
communicated,  as  if  the  whole  world,  with  all  its  innumer- 
able agitations  and  excitements,  were  thrown  into  one  nar- 
row district,  as  if  men  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  be  the 
passive  recipients  of  wonder  and  astonishment,  or  the  sub- 
jects of  all  strange  and  overwhelming  emotions. 

But  this  delineation  by  no  means  covers  the  entire  ground. 
There  is,  secondly,  a  very  large  class  of  young  people  of 
both  sexes,  especially  in  the  country  towns,  who  are  attain- 
ing accurate  knowledge  and  thorough  mental  discipline. 
The  habits  which  they  acquire  by  the  secular  studies  of  the 
week,  are  carried  into  the  Sabbath,  and  strengthened  by 
the  friendly  collision  of  the  Bible  class.  The  number  of 
intelligent,  well-educated  young  people,  in  some  towns,  is 
so  large  as  to  give  a  coloring  and  tone  to  public  sentiment. 
There  are  many  schools  at  the  present  day  which  really 
educate  the  mind,  which  create  and  cherish  a  permanent 
taste  for  reading  and  reflection. 

But  there  is,  thirdly,  a  still  more  numerous  class,  artisans, 
36* 


426  IMPORTANCE    OF    A    THOROUGH 

mechanics,  workingmen,  in  great  part  self-educated,  who 
have  sharpened  their  mental  faculties  by  rough  collision  in 
debate,  or  by  the  necessities  of  their  vocation,  by  the  com- 
petitions of  trade,  or  by  the  energy  of  a  misguided  moral 
power. 

In  a  part  of  London,  called  Spitalfields,  there  is  a  popu- 
lation of  seventy  thousand,  chiefly  silk- weavers  ;  they  work 
fourteen  hours  in  a  day  ;  many  of  them  are  crowded  seven 
or  eight  into  a  room,  night  and  day.  There  is  no  public 
library  in  the  district,  and  yet  as  a  general  fact  they  are 
remarkably  intelligent,  and  many  of  them  very  acute.  It  is 
said  that  in  Birmingham  the  highest  class  of  poetry,  Milton's 
among  others,  is  read  very  much  by  the  working  people  ; 
that  Shakspeare  is  known  by  heart  almost ;  that  men  can 
be  found  who  might  with  credit  to  themselves  be  cross-ex- 
amined on  any  of  his  plays  ;  that  there  is  not  a  night  in  that 
city  without  a  lecture,  or  public  meeting,  or  concert,  or  de- 
bate, or  something  of  the  kind,  sometimes  three  or  four  in 
a  night.  There  is  a  society  of  young  men  there  formed  for 
the  thorough  discussion  of  the  principles  of  political  ques- 
tions. Some  of  the  most  intelligent  and  best-read  men  in 
Birmingham  are  workingmen.  Some  rise  at  five  o'clock 
and  work  for  book-money  till  eight,  and  then  go  to  their 
day''s  work.  In  Manchester  there  are  many  operatives  who 
have  studied  the  works  of  Kant,  Fichte,  and  Hegel.  The 
demand  for  that  class  of  writings  was  so  great  at  one  time, 
that  the  booksellers  were  not  able  to  furnish  them.  Some 
teach  themselves  German  and  French,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
read  such  works  in  the  original. 

Cases  analogous  to  these  are  doubtless  more  frequent 
among  the  mechanics  and  manufacturing  operatives  of  our 
own   country.     It  is  in  truth  a  state  of  society  where  one 


THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  427 

is  educated,  whether  he  will  be  or  not.  As  iron  sharpeneth 
iron,  one  man,  accustomed  to  reasoning  and  discussion, 
will  elicit  mental  sparks  from  all  with  whom  he  comes  into 
frequent  contact. 

Then,  fourthly,  a  strong  tendency  of  the  age  is  towards 
physical  science.  There  is  some  reason  to  apprehend  that 
it  will  gradually  change  the  character  of  our  colleges, 
throw  into  the  backgroundj  if  it  do  not  displace,  literature 
and  spiritual  philosophy.  The  physical  sciences  are  now 
pursued  far  more  enthusiastically  than  any  other  branch  of 
knowledge.  They  are  vitally  connected  with  the  acquisition 
of  wealth,  and  with  all  the  material  interests  of  the  coun- 
try. And  if  pursued  exclusively,  to  the  neglect  of  mental 
and  moral  science,  they  will  ultimately  lead  to  scepticism 
in  regard  to  the  testimony  of  history,  sacred  and  profane. 
The  presence,  therefore,  of  a  very  large  and  increasing 
class  of  able  and  accomplished  naturalists,  may  well  come 
into  the  account  of  him,  who  is  preparing  to  be  the  moral 
and  spiritual  teacher  of  his  countrymen. 

I  will  allude  to  only  one  more  class  of  men,  rapidly  in- 
creasing at  the  present  time  in  our  country.  I  mean  learned 
foreigners,  men  of  accomplished  education,  trained  as  very 
few  men  among  us  have  ever  been.  It  is  said,  for  exam- 
ple, that  one  of  the  most  distinguished  professors  of  law  in 
Switzerland,  a  colleague  of  Professors  Agassiz  and  Guyot, 
has  bought  a  farm  at  the  West,  whither  he  has  removed 
with  a  large  family.  It  is  thought  that  our  home  missiona- 
ries, or  a  considerable  number  of  them,  will  be  compelled 
to  learn  the  German  language,  and  speak  it,  so  as  to  gain 
an  influence  over  the  multitudes  of  immigrants  coming  from 
Germany.  The  number  of  these  immigrants  is  indeed  much 
less  than  that  coming  from  Great  Britain  ;  but  it  will  con- 


428  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

stitute  a  far  more  important  element  in  our  national  char- 
acter. Unhappily,  much  of  the  learning,  with  which  many 
of  the  Germans  are  so  liberally  furnished,  may  be  used  in 
overthrowing  the  faith  which  we  cherish. 

Now  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  what  kind  of  preachers 
such  a  state  of  society  demands.  If  we  allow  that  the  pres- 
ent is  a  superficial  age,  that  what  has  been  gained  in 
breadth  has  been  lost  in  depth,  it  would  by  no  means  follow 
that  the  public  teacher  needs  to  be  less  accomplished.  It 
might  require  more  knowledge  of  human  nature,  more 
versatility  of  mind  and  varied  acquisition,  to  influence  a  cap- 
tious and  impatient  audience,  than  one  trained  as  Dr.  Em- 
mons's church  was.  To  silence  a  backbiting  Jew  or  a  so- 
phistical Athenian,  might  demand  greater  skill,  and  a  more 
thorough  discipline,  than  to  convince  the  thoughtful  and  in- 
quiring Berean.  If  our  countrymen  are  becoming  super- 
ficial ;  if  the  system  of  popular  lecturing,  among  other 
usages,  is  weakening  the  intellect  while  it  diffuses  informa- 
tion ;  if  the  rapidly  augmenting  influence  of  our  great  cities 
is  destroying  the  love  for  quiet  meditation  and  profound  in- 
quiiy, — then  the  more  urgent  is  the  necessity  for  a  race  of 
preachers,  who  shall  throw  themselves  athioart  this  popular 
and  pernicious  tendency ;  who  shall  stand  up  in  our  metro- 
politan and  village  pulpits,  and  pander  to  no  perverted  taste, 
but  effect  a  lodgment  in  the  conscience  and  heart  by  the 
skill  of  their  aim  and  the  weight  of  their  metal. 

The  fact  that  high  qualifications  are  demanded  in  minis- 
ters, whether  their  sphere  of  operation  be  in  New  England, 
or  in  Illinois,  or  in  Aleppo,  plainly  shows  that  there  can  be 
no  misinterpretation  of  the  public  feeling.  Wherever  a 
man  goes  to  preach  the  Gospel,  he  ought  to  do  it  effectually. 
In  order  to  accomplish  this,  he  must  understand  it,  its  doc- 


THEOLOGICAL  EDUCATION.  429 

trines,  on  what  texts  they  are  founded,  and  the  opinions  and 
the  usages  of  those  who  have  professed  to  believe  in  them. 
A  missionary  in  Constantinople  lately  wrote,  that  the  notes 
which  he  took  in  systematic  theology  were  of  inestimable 
service  to  him,  and  he  only  regretted  that  they  were  not 
more  copious.  Those  who  are  called  to  resuscitate  the 
dead  churches  of  the  East,  require  knowledge  of  the  most 
varied  kind,  and  weapons  of  the  keenest  temper. 

By  these  remarks  it  is  not  intended  to  imply,  that  preach- 
ers must  be  possessed  of  genius  or  powerful  original  talent. 
This  would  be  manifestly  requiring  an  impossibility.  What 
is  meant  is,  that  the  talents,  whether  ten,  or  two,  or  five, 
should  be  sedulously  cultivated.  A  small  edifice  may  be  as 
systematical  as  the  Parthenon.  A  little  lamp  may  shed  as 
perfect  a  light  within  a  certain  distance,  as  one  ten  times  its 
size.  Men  of  respectable  or  moderate  abilities  become 
most  useful  servants  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  if  they  worthily 
improve  their  talents.  Genius  is  the  inheritance  of  but  few. 
A  well-trained  intellect  and  heart  may  be  the  patrimony 
of  all. 

My  remaining  object  is  to  point  out  briefly  some  of  the 
causes  which  seriously  abridge  the  prescribed  course  of 
study. 

1.  The  first  which  I  would  mention  is  a  general  rest- 
lessness of  mind.  Some  students  appear  to  be  unable  to  sit 
down  quietly  and  pursue  study  uninterruptedly  three  or  six 
months.  Their  mental  discipline  appears  to  most  advan- 
tage in  their  skill  in  framing  excuses  for  absence.  The 
slightest  reason,  or  no  reason  at  all,  is  sufficient  to  break 
up  the  order  of  study,  or  to  call  them  away.  In  cases 
where  there  are  reasons  of  considerable  weight,  they  yield 


430  IMPORTANCE  OF  A  THOROUGH 

to  them  at  once,  without  inquiring  :  "  Is  it  not  a  great  evil 
for  me  to  encourage  a  habit  of  fickleness  in  myself  and 
others  ?  May  I  not  lose  an  important  link  in  the  chain  of 
my  studies,  and  thus  mar,  if  I  do  not  seriously  injure,  my 
education  ?  May  I  not  better  forego  the  pleasure  or  ad- 
vantage of  absence,  than  reduce  the  amount  of  my  prep- 
aration for  the  greatest  work  ever  committed  to  man  ? 
Allow  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  be  present  at  a 
particular  exercise,  because  I  have  anticipated  it,  or  may 
easily  make  it  up,  will  not  my  absence  diminish  somewhat 
the  interest  of  the  occasion,  or  cause  a  little  diminution  of 
that  esprit  du  corps,  which  is  as  necessary  in  a  class  as  in 
an  army,  and  which  is  not  likely  to  exist  where  the  ranks 
are  not  full  ?  If  I  gain  nothing  by  the  lecture  myself,  I 
may  do  good  by  my  presence,  and  prevent  a  pernicious 
personal  habit," 

This  restlessness  may  be  caused  by  praiseworthy  mo- 
tives. The  student  may  have  a  sincere,  though  mistaken, 
desire  to  do  good  to  the  cause  of  his  Redeemer.  He  may 
spend  his  vacation  in  labors  which  promise  a  rich  spiritual 
harvest.  He  delays  to  return  to  his  studies  at  the  appointed 
time.  His  class,  meanwhile,  may  have  gone  over  one  of 
the  most  difficult  questions  in  theology.  He  has  lost  what 
books  and  subsequent  study  cannot  repair.  In  a  friendly 
and  earnest  discussion,  some  thoughts  were  thrown  out 
which  he  could  never  reach  by  solitary  study ;  some  diffi- 
culties were  removed  which  the  books  do  not  notice. 

If  a  part  of  a  theological  course  is  of  little  value,  then 
the  whole  may  be  of  small  account.  If  a  week  may  be 
lost  without  disadvantage,  a  month  may  be.  Then,  why 
the  necessity  of  theological  seminaries  at  all  .''  Excellent 
ministers  were  trained  before  they  were  founded.     It  would 


THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION.  431 

certainly  be  better  to  study  nine  months  consecutively 
with  Dr.  Emmons  or  Dr.  Bellamy,  than  to  be  a  member  of 
a  theological  seminary  ostensibly  three  years,  and  be  actu- 
ally present  only  at  intervals. 

Again,  this  restlessness  may  follow  one  into  the  ministry. 
If  he  find  it  hard  to  study  in  a  seminary,  he  will  find  it 
harder  in  a  parish.  In  the  one  case,  he  has  motives  and  en- 
couragements which  he  has  not  in  the  other.  If  he  wishes 
to  enjoy  a  prosperous  and  happy  ministry,  he  must  learn  to 
be  a  patient  thinker.  There  have  been  members  of  this 
Seminary  who  wei-e  not  absent  from  a  single  prescribed  ex- 
ercise of  any  kind  for  six  months.  Such  have  laid  one  of 
the  best  foundations  for  a  life  of  eminent  usefulness,  be- 
cause of  patient  continuance  in  well-doing. 

2.  Another  hindrance  arises  from  one's  undertaking  too 
much  at  the  outset  of  his  course.  In  the  boundless  fields 
of  Biblical,  theological,  and  ecclesiastical  learning,  there 
are  many  tempting  by-paths,  many  fragrant  flowers  and 
delicious  fruits.  I  do  not  refer  to  miscellaneous  knowledge, 
which  has  no  direct  connection  with  theological  subjects  ; 
but  to  certain  subordinate  branches  of  theology,  or  to  topics 
an  acquaintance  with  which  would  be  desirable,  but  which 
is  not  indispensable,  or  which  had  better  b'e  postponed  to 
a  future  opportunity.  Without  being  on  our  guard,  we 
shall  be  insensibly  enticed  away  from  what  is  essential. 
Our  course  will  be  marked  with  partial  failures,  with  unac- 
complished projects,  with  half-executed  resolves.  No  one 
of  us,  I  presume,  can  look  back  upon  our  college  course 
without  regret  for  some  ill-advised  project,  without  some 
sense  of  shame  for  having  turned  aside  from  the  great  pub- 
lic path  into  some  alluring  by-road.  Our  aim  should  have 
been  to  master  the  elements  of  the  successive  studies  which 


432  IMPORTANCE    OF    A    THOROUGH 

came  before  us,  not  to  spend  our  strength  upon  less  impor- 
tant, though  related  topics.  Just  so  in  respect  to  a  theolog- 
ical course.  We  may  fritter  away  our  time  and  faculties, 
by  attempting  to  do  more  than  we  can  do  well.  An  indi- 
vidual once  made  a  laborious  abstract  of  a  Biblical  work  in 
our  Seminary  library,  —  a  work  which  he  afterwards  as- 
certained was  much  inferior  to  several  others  then  in  the 
library.  He  who  has  a  radical  insight  into  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages,  may  have  more  intellectual  wealth,  may 
be  more  of  a  linguist,  than  the  reputed  possessor  of  fifty 
.tongues. 

3.  Another  hindrance  to  a  complete  theological  educa- 
tion is  excessive  miscellaneous  reading.  I  would  not 
wholly  abjure  it,  as  some  nearly  do  in  practice.  It  is  use- 
ful in  three  respects.  It  is  a  grateful  mental  relaxation.  It 
answers  the  end,  in  a  degree,  of  exercise.  After  hard  toil, 
the  mind  in  this  way  recovers  its  tone.  In  the  second 
place,  if  judiciously  conducted,  if  it  be  not  taken  up  at  hap- 
hazard, it  will  throw  no  inconsiderable  light  upon  our  main 
pursuit.  Many  books  of  secular  history  are  valuable  ac- 
companiments to  a  volume  of  church  histoiy.  Thirdly,  it  is 
important  in  its  influence  upon  taste,  and  upon  skill  in  writ- 
ing. Those  in  college  who  never  open  a  book,  except  the 
one  prescribed  in  the  course,  sometimes  fail  to  interest  the 
audience  whom  they  address.  They  will  appear  to  advan- 
tage in  an  examination,  not  on  Commencement  day.  In 
reading  approved  miscellaneous  authors,  we  are  insensibly 
refining  our  taste,  and  adding  to  the  stock  of  our  ideas,  and 
we  are  thus  directly  promoting  our  great  object,  —  acquir- 
ing ability  to  guide  the  opinions  of  others. 

But  the  hazard  is  great.  An  interesting  book  beguiles 
not  only  the  unstable,  but  those  who  fully  intend  to  guard 


THEOLOGICAL   EDUCATION.  433 

against  the  seduction.  It  is  much  more  pleasant  to  read  than 
it  is  to  investigate  ;  to  revel  in  the  pages  of  the  historian  or 
fictitious  writer,  than  to  reflect  on  a  difficult  point  in  morals 
or  theology.  The  one  falls  in  with  our  native  indolence, 
or  curiosity,  or  love  of  excitement ;  the  other  demands 
self-denial  and  immediate  compliance  with  duty.  I  recol- 
lect an  individual  who  would  sometimes  spend  half  the 
night  in  reading  an  attractive  volume  which  he  found  in  his 
neighbor's  room  ;  of  course  he  was  not  present  at  the  next 
morning  prayers,  perhaps  not  at  the  lecture.  It  should  be 
remembered,  that  the  greatest  advantages  of  miscellaneous 
reading  are  not  secured,  unless  a  firm  basis  is  laid  in  hard 
study.  Whatever  else  is  neglected,  the  assigned  lesson 
should  not  be.  The  best  hours  of  the  day,  those  in  which 
the  mind  is  most  awake,  should  be  employed  on  the  main 
study  in  hand.  This  accomplished,  we  shall  resort  with  a 
delightful  satisfaction,  felt  in  no  other  circumstances,  to  the 
history,  the  poem,  or  the  newspaper. 

Dr.  Emmons  was  accustomed  to  say,  that  "  he  read  only 
the  best  and  the  worst  books "  ;  i.  e.  the  ablest  for  and 
against  his  opinion. 

John  Foster  says  :  "  Few  have  been  sufficiently  sensible 
of  the  importance  of  that  economy  in  reading,  which  selects, 
almost  exclusively^  the  very  first  order  of  books.  Why 
should  a  man,  except  for  some  very  special  reason,  read  a 
very  inferior  book,  at  the  very  time  that  he  might  be  read- 
ing one  of  the  highest  order."  Perhaps  few  admonitions, 
for  most  of  us,  could  be  more  important  than  this. 

4.  In  the  last  place,  a  theological  course  is  often  some- 
what abridged  by  the  irresolution  and  languor  which  are 
apt  to  be  felt  during  the  last  weeks  of  a  term.  This,  per- 
haps, cannot  be  wholly  prevented.     The  change  from  the 

VOL.   II.  37 


434  THEOLOGICAL    EDUCATION. 

bracing  air  of  winter  to  the  warmer  atmosphere  of  spring 
is  in  a  measure  debilitating.  The  powers  of  the  body 
necessarily  undergo  some  modification. 

But  as  it  occasions  a  serious  loss  in  study,  and  as  it  should 
seem  that  three  months  of  vacation  afford  adequate  time 
for  mental  recreation,  it  is  worthy  of  serious  inquiry,  wheth- 
er the  evil  cannot  be  greatly  mitigated,  if  it  is  not  wholly 
removed.  May  not  a  system  of  bodily  exercise  be  so  wisely 
planned  and  so  conscientiously  pursued,  as  to  enable  one  to 
retain  a  good  measure  of  strength  to  the  close  of  each 
term  ?  Should  not  that  degree  of  moderation  be  practised 
in  the  studies  of  the  early  and  middle  portions  of  the  ses- 
sion, which  will  leave  the  powers  substantially  unimpaired 
to  the  end  ?  Is  it  not  worthy  of  some  consideration,  how 
we  may  make  the  most  of  the  precious  time  which  God 
has  given  us  ?  If,  by  prudence  and  forethought,  you  can 
save  a  week  or  a  month,  when  topics  of  such  interest  are 
pressing  on  your  attention,  should  not  the  effort  be  made  ? 
You  are  about  to  become  the  public  teachers  of  your  fellow- 
men  ;  to  set  yourselves  up,  virtually,  as  models  of  what- 
ever is  fair,  good,  and  worthy  to  be  copied.  Strict  consci- 
entiousness lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  ministerial  charac- 
ter. He  only  who  faithfully  employs  his  time,  and  the 
other  talents  which  God  has  given  him,  can  speak  with 
authority  to  others,  concerning  their  duties  and  their  dan- 
gers. 


CHRISTIANS  SHOULD  STUDY  THE  PROFOUND- 
ER  MYSTERIES  OE  THEIR  FAITH. 


It  is  the  uniform  representation  of  the  Bible,  that  men 
are  sanctified  through  the  truth,  are  morally  transformed  by 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  or  that  their  spiritual  education  is  ac- 
complished by  means  of  the  Christian  doctrines. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  a  momentous  question.  What  is  the 
relation  between  the  truth  and  the  human  mind  and  heart  ? 
What  is  the  nature  and  the  degree  of  the  communication  be- 
tween them  ?  How  far  are  they  in  contact  ?  If  there  be 
any  living  sympathy  between  them,  how  can  the  number  of 
vital  points  be  augmented  ?  Where  is  the  process  of  as- 
similation active  ?  Where  has  it  become  deficient  or  ceased 
altogether?  It  is  evident,  on  a  moment's  reflection,  that 
the  degrees  of  this  transforming  process  may  be  almost  in- 
finitely various. 

In  the  first  place,  we  may  conceive  of  an  individual  who 
has  no  knowledge  whatever  of  any  positive  revelation, 
whose  mind  is  in  very  great  doubt  and  perplexity  on  all 
spiritual  subjects,  to  whom  the  future  is  nearly  an  entire 
blank ;  but  through  the  darkness  of  whose  understanding  there 
has,  once  in  a  while,  shot  a  ray  of  light,  which  has  come 
one  knows  not  whence  ;  a  little  fragment  of  traditional  truth 


436  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD    STUDY    THE 

has  floated  to  him  down  those  gloomy  waters  which  lie  back 
of  him.  His  mind  has  become  uneasy,  his  conscience  has 
uttered  its  faint  murmur,  a  feeble  sense  of  sin  and  ill-desert 
has  been  awakened.  He  has  moments  of  secret  yearning 
for  some  better  light,  some  clew  that  will  lead  him  out  of 
the  labyrinth.  His  mind,  dark,  confused,  almost  inextrica- 
bly perplexed,  is  in  contact  with  the  truth.  The  spirit  of 
God,  in  some  unknown  method,  has  touched  a  chord  which 
now  treniblingly  vibrates.  He  has,  in  a  small  degree,  a 
preparation  of  heart  for  some  further  discovery.  He  antici- 
pates the  truth,  rather  than  possesses  it.  He  is  not  in  the 
temple,  but  he  has  placed  his  foot  on  the  lowest  step  of  the 
portico.  The  darkness  has  not  passed  away,  but  yet  it  is 
not  increasing.  When  a  purer  light  shall  fall  upon  his 
benighted  spirit,  it  may  be  found  that  there  was  some  apti- 
tude or  readiness  to  admit  it.     . 

We  may  suppose,  in  the  second  place,  another  individual, 
who  never  enjoyed  any  direct  revelation,  to  whom  God 
never  spok»  by  articulate  voice,  or  in  dreams  or  visions  of 
the  night ;  but  by  some  visible  symbol,  through  some  out- 
ward rite,  in  some  significant  action,  there  was  prefigured 
to  him  some  great  redeeming  truth.  Through  these  thick 
veils  he  dimly  saw  and  really  felt  the  power  of  an  undevel- 
oped, spiritual  principle.  A  little  edge  of  the  curtain  which 
concealed  from  him  the  far  distant  future,  was  for  a  mo- 
ment raised,  and  faith  spi'ung  up  in  his  soul,  and  took  the 
place  of  vision. 

There  is  another  large  class,  in  the  third  place,  who  look 
at  truth  through  a  discolored  medium.  The  doctrine  e.xerts 
little  of  its  transforming  power,  because  it  cannot  pierce  the 
cloud  of  prejudices  by  which  it  is  met.  It  is  only  occasion- 
ally, and  at  great  disadvantage,  that  it  touches  the  mind 


PROFOITNDER    MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR   FAITH.  437 

which  it  is  fitted  to  regenerate.  Innumerable  foreign  ob- 
jects are  interposed  between  it  and  the  soul.  If  there  be 
any  spiritual  life  in  that  soul,  its  pulsations  are  feeble  and 
intermittent.  If  any  true  conceptions  of  the  Gospel  are 
entertained,  they  can  exert  but  little  practical  power,  dis- 
torted as  they  are  by  prepossessions  and  countless  errors. 

I  would  allude,  in  the  fourth  place,  to  a  large  class  who 
live  in  Christian  lands,  where  the  Gospel  is  enjoyed  in  its 
simplicity  and  purity,  but  who  receive,  for  the  most  part, 
only  a  small  degree,  if  it  may  be  so  expressed,  of  saving 
power,  or  only  an  indirect  benefit.  They  are  believers  by 
education,  or  on  traditionary  evidence.  The  Gospel  does 
not  ordinarily  come  to  them  with  power,  as  demanding  their 
individual  faith  and  acceptance.  They  have  received  it, 
rather  than  believed  in  it.  They  have  taken  it  upon  trust, 
or  as  a  bequest,  rather  than  searched  into  its  meaning  or 
imbibed  its  spirit  by  a  personal  and  self-appropriating  ex- 
amination. The  Gospel  is  to  them  an  outward  and  adven- 
'titious  support,  not  a  life-giving  power,  not  the  theme  of 
earnest  meditation,  and  not  even  the  occasion  of  doubt  or 
perplexity ;  but  it  is  regarded  as  a  legacy,  into  the  posses- 
sion of  which  they  have  come  without  any  thought  or  care 
of  their  own,  and  whose  indirect  and  earthly  blessings  may 
be  enjoyed  as  a  matter  of  course. 

I  may  name  others,  in  the  fifth  place,  who  are  interested 
in  the  Gospel  intellectually^  who  make  it  a  matter  of  distinct 
and  earnest  investigation,  who  digest  its  truths,  who  obtain 
clear  and  discriminating  views  of  its  doctrines,  who  are  stren- 
uous and  able  in  the  defence  of  its  evidences,  and  who  have 
oblained  the  mastery  of  it,  considered  as  a  system  of  abstract 
knowledge.  But,  unhappily,  they  have  not  at  the  same  time 
brought  it  near  to  their  undying  spirit,  to  their  moral  nature, 
37* 


438  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD    STUDY    THE 

as  a  medicine  of  wondrous  efficacy.  They  have  dissociated 
it  from  that  for  which  it  was  specially  designed.  It  does  not 
elevate  the  earthward  affections,  it  does  not  rectify  the  per- 
verse tendencies,  it  does  not  e.xorcise  the  soul  of  its  powers 
of  evil,  because  it  is  jealously  excluded  from  this  region  and 
made  merely  the  sign  of  intellectual  ideas,  or  a  grateful 
exercise  for  the  reasoning  powers. 

I  would  allude,  in  the  sixth  place,  to  a  very  large  class 
of  Christians,  who  unite  to  a  certain  extent  a  correct 
knowledge  of  the  Christian  system  with  a  partial  obedience 
to  its  precepts.  They  understand  at  least  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  the  Gospel,  and  endeavor  not  to  neglect  the  du- 
ties growing  out  of  their  knowledge.  Their  acq^uaintance 
with  the  Gospel  is  not  merely  traditional,  or  the  result  of 
education.  Their  observance  of  the  requisitions  of  the 
Gospel  is  something  more  than  obedience  to  the  law  of  cus- 
tom, or  an  imitation  of  the  example  of  others.  But,  unhap- 
pily, little  growth  is  perceptible  either  in  their  knowledge  or 
their  virtues.  In  both  respects  they  are  contented  to  re- 
main for  ever  children,  never  able  to  go  beyond  their  ele- 
mentary lessons,  never  to  be  disengaged  from  the  hand  of 
their  teacher.  The  Gospel  is  not  a  life  within  them,  a 
germinating  principle  that  insures  a  growth  and  a  vigorous 
maturity.  They  are  satisfied  with  a  small  amount  of  knowl- 
edge and  of  religious  experience.  This  tardy  progress,  this 
almost  stationary  position,  is  not  owing  to  the  lack  of  oppor- 
tunities, to  any  deficiency  in  natural  power,  to  any  unavoid- 
able hindrances  in  the  providence  of  God.  A  great  pro- 
portion of  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church  in  our 
country  are,  doubtless,  in  this  state  of  comparative  infancy, 
without  any  sufficient  cause.  They  are  not  in  that  condi- 
tion of  extreme  poverty  which  debars  them  from  attending 


PROFOUNDER    MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR    FAITH.  439 

earnestly  and  continuously  to  religious  truth.  There  is  such 
a  general  competence,  so  much  undisturbed  tranquillity,  such 
a  sense  of  security  and  peace,  as  to  favor  and  encourage 
the  largest  attainments  in  knowledge  and  grace,  such  as  the 
world  has  rarely,  perhaps  never,  seen.  There  is  likewise 
a  stimulated  curiosity  on  all  other  subjects,  a  shrewd  and 
a\vakened  intellect,  a  remarkable  aptness  in  discovering  and 
investigating  truth  in  all  departments  of  knowledge.  But 
on  one  subject,  and  that  the  most  momentous,  a  theme 
where  knowledge  is  eternal  life,  where  experience  en- 
larges and  ennobles  the  soul,  the  mind  is  satisfied  with 
contracted  views,  with  the  mere  elements  of  truth,  with  an 
imperceptible  progress,  with  a  feeble  and  hesitating  faith. 

Now,  in  opposition  to  all  these  inadequate,  partial,  unpro- 
ductive methods  of  considering  truth,  in  marked  contrast 
with  all  this  indolent,  fitful,  uninfluential  reception  of  the 
Gospel,  we  are  urged  by  the  New  Testament,  not  only  to  a 
practical  use  of  it,  but  also  to  a  study  which  shall  be  earnest, 
systematic,  steadily  advancing  till  one  height  after  another 
is  gained,  till,  by  the  influence  of  divine  truth,  the  soul  is 
gradually  freed  from  its  thraldom  and  stands  erect  in  its 
conscious  liberty  and  enlarging  knowledge. 

It  is  now  time,  says  the  Apostle,  in  Hebrews  vi.  1,  2,  to 
leave  your  elementary  lessons,  to  throw  off  the  badges  of 
pupilage,  no  longer  to  occupy  yourselves  in  laying  the 
foundations.  In  busying  yourselves  with  these  introductory 
lessons,  you  give  di  false  impression  of  the  nature  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  though  it  were  made  up  of  a  few  rudimental 
elements,  and  did  not  possess  a  thousand  fruitful  and  inex- 
haustible principles,  and  were  not  a  system  of  perfect  truth 
fitted  for  the  soul  in  its  most  enlarged  capacity  and  in  its 
widest  investigations.     You  long  ago  professed  to  compre- 


410  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD   STUDY    THE 

hend  and  receive  the  doctrine  of  repentance  ;  it  is  the  very 
first  step  in  the  Christian  Ufe  ;  it  is  the  food  of  infancy  ;  it 
is  a  truth  of  exceeding  simplicity  ;  it  is  taught  by  the  light 
of  nature  ;  its  obligation  is  testified  to  by  every  one's  con- 
sciousness. Faith,  too,  is  no  recondite  or  hard  doctrine  ;  it 
is  a  lesson  which  children  may  learn  ;  it  was  the  great  theme 
of  our  teaching  when  we  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
churches  ;  its  reasonableness  is  so  plain,  its  claims  are  so 
obvious,  that  it  does  not  require  long  study  or  laborious  in- 
vestigation to  set  them  forth.  Baptism  is  the  initiatory  rite  ; 
its  significance  was  long  ago  recognized  by  you  as  Jews, 
its  symbolical  value  and  pertinence  are  acknowledged  by 
you  readily,  for  it  is  a  species  of  instruction  with  which  you 
have  been  long  familiar.  So  likewise  of  the  laying  on  of 
hands.  You  have  witnessed,  in  a  thousand  cases,  that  it  is 
the  sign  of  the  communication  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  not 
a  topic  on  which  you  need  to  dwell.  The  fact  is  simple, 
the  lesson  obvious  to  the  meanest  capacity.  And  there  is  no 
special  difficulty  which  should  make  you  linger  speculatively 
on  the  truth  of  the  general  resun-ection  or  of  eternal  judgment. 
As  practical  men,  you  must  be  very  familiar  with  the  power 
of  God.  Its  wonderful  effects  in  the  world  meet  your  eyes 
unceasingly.  The  resurrection  of  nature  in  the  spring,  the 
germination  of  a  plant,  would  no  more  take  place,  separate 
from  the  power  of  God,  than  the  resuscitation  of  the  human 
body.  If  you  believe  in  God's  power  in  one  case,  you  can- 
not disbelieve  it  in  the  other.  And  in  regard  to  a  judgment 
to  come,  the  whole  creation  groaneth  for  it  even  now. 
Your  own  moral  nature  cries  aloud  for  it  in  all  its  depths. 
It  is  written  on  the  pages  of  your  Old  Testament  Scriptures, 
and  every  thoughtful  heathen  moralist  has  reinforced  it. 
All  these  truths  are  important,  but  they  are  elementary ; 


PROFOUNDER   MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR    FAITH.  441 

they  do  not  pertain  to  the  superstructure  ;  they  are  not  the 
subjects  specially  concerned  with  your  progression  in  Chris- 
tian knowledge.  Continually  reverting  to  them,  you  will 
never  come  into  the  glorious  freedom  of  perfect  men  in 
Christ.  Your  life  will  be  sickly,  your  knowledge  scanty, 
your  final  reward  small. 

There  are  other  themes  profounder,  more  comprehensive, 
more  practical,  which  solicit  and  command  your  attention. 
What  should  now  awaken  your  most  earnest  study  is  Chris- 
tianity considered  as  the  fulfilment  of  a  long  series  of  pre- 
dictions, the  great  centre  to  which  a  thousand  converging 
influences  have  tended  since  the  creation  of  the  world,  the 
key  which  unlocks  treasures  of  wisdom  richer  than  all  the 
gems  of  the  East ;  —  Christianity,  considered  as  universal  in 
its  nature,  as  breaking  down  the  impassable  wall  between 
you  and  all  other  nations,  as  the  great  umpire  in  all  strifes, 
uniting  the  entire  race  of  Adam  in  a  universal  brotherhood, 
as  furnishing  the  guaranty  of  friendship,  the  principle  of 
unity,  the  solvent  of  prejudices,  long  desired,  but  found  in 
no  other  system. 

Preeminently  are  you  to  study  Christianity  and  feel  its  en- 
nobling effects  in  the  life  and  character  of  its  Founder  ;  —  a 
theme  wonderful  as  his  nature,  exhaustless  as  his  love,  the 
love  of  him  who  was  subordinate  to  the  Father,  and  yet  wor- 
shipped by  angels  ;  a  subject  of  God's  government,  and  yet 
laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  universe ;  compassed  about 
with  infirmities,  and  yet  sustaining  all  things  by  the  word  of 
his  power;  made  like  the  feeblest  of  his  brethren,  and  yet 
the  counterpart  and  image  of  uncreated  glory.  Here  are 
mysteries,  or  what  may  be  termed  classes  of  mysteries,  sys- 
tems of  wonders.  Here  is  Christianity  seen  in  its  noblest 
forms.     Here  is  study  which  ages  cannot  exhaust,  whose 


442  CHRISTIANS    SHOULB    STUDY   THE 

interest  neither  time  nor  eternity  can  diminish.  Stimulating 
and  productive  in  the  highest  degree  for  the  intellect,  it  is 
at  the  same  time  practical  as  no  other  study  can  be,  lays 
low  all  opposing  passions,  exalts  the  soul  in  adoration,  and 
breathes  into  the  man  what  he  never  felt  before,  the  loving 
and  ennobling  spirit  of  the  Saviour  himself. 

A  similar  course  of  argument  is  exhibited  in  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  The  Apostle  thei-e  maintains,  first, 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  alone  knows  all  things,  for  he  searches 
the  deep  things  of  God,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  spirit  of 
a  man  searches  what  is  in  man  ;  secondly,  that  the  Apostles 
have  received  this  Spirit,  and  consequently  know  in  a  meas- 
ure what  is  in  God ;  and  thirdly,  that  it  is  the  duty  and  privi- 
lege of  all  Christians  to  participate  in  this  knowledge.  Eye 
hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  the  heart  of  man  hath  not 
conceived,  what  is  now  or  may  be  now  revealed  unto  us  in 
relation  to  the  counsels  of  God,  or  the  mysteries  of  redeem- 
ing grace.  What  are  the  deep  things  of  God  ?  Doubt- 
less among  them  are  his  eternal  decrees,  the  gradual  and 
wondrous  unfolding  of  his  purposes,  the  mystery  of  the  in- 
carnation, the  profound  laws  of  God's  providence,  the  aston- 
ishing methods  by  which  good  is  educed  from  evil,  the  di- 
vine fitnesses  of  the  Gospel  to  the  ten  thousand  complicated 
wants  of  man's  intellectual  and  moral  nature.  These  are 
the  themes  which  demand  and  will  amply  repay  the  most 
earnest  and  long-continued  meditation.  In  this  discipline, 
ever  progressive,  never  ending,  so  strengthening  to  the  soul, 
the  Apostle  strenuously  exhorted  his  disciples  to  exercise 
themselves. 

The  topic  thus  suggested,  I  wish  briefly  to  illustrate,  —  the 
obligation  of  Christians  to  study  the  profounder  mysteries 
of  their  faith.     What  are  some  of  the  reasons  for  leaving 


PROFOUNDER  MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR    FAITH.  443 

the  elementary  principles,  and  for  dwelling  on  truths  of 
deeper  import  and  larger  application  ? 

Now  we  ought  not  to  say,  as  some  do,  that  such  a  course 
would  conduct  us  to  unprofitable  speculation  ;  that  it  might 
lead  us  to  the  brink  of  some  fearful  precipice,  to  the  con- 
sideration of  questions  into  which  the  angels  would  fear  to 
intrude ;  that  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  are  simple,  practical,  ap- 
prehensible by  children  ;  that  we  have  no  need  to  traverse  the 
depths  of  metaphysical  theology,  or  to  cast  our  short  line  into 
the  fathomless  abysses  of  abstract  truth ;  the  word  is  nigh 
thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  thy  heart ;  nourishing  food 
is  spread  immediately  before  thee  in  the  amplest  profusion. 

But  in  this  method  of  excusing  ourselves  from  earnest 
meditation,  or  from  toiling  up  the  heights  of  Christian 
knowledge,  two  things  seem  to  be  forgotten  ;  first,  that  there 
is  in  most  Christians  the  greatest  danger  of  sloth,  of  resting 
satisfied  with  the  smallest  amount  of  knowledge  that  will 
save  the  soul,  of  ever  learning  and  never  being  able  to 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  In  the  churches  of 
New  England,  with  all  their  intelligence,  it  may  be  safely 
said,  that,  where  one  presumptuously  speculates  on  the  Chris- 
tian doctrines,  one  hundred  rest  torpidly,  through  life,  on  the 
mere  preliminary  lessons  in  the  outer  court.  Secondly,  it  is 
forgotten  that  the  great  mysteries  of  the  Christian  system 
may  be  studied  with  all  childlike  docility,  with  all  reverential 
wonder,  with  the  severest  self-scrutiny,  lest  the  practical  ap- 
plications should  not  be  perceived  and  felt.  The  fact,  that 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  penetrated  farther  than  any  one  before  him 
into  the  mysteries  of  these  material  heavens,  does  not  prove, 
assuredly,  that  he  lost  his  simplicity  of  character,  and  be- 
came vain  of  his  vast  attainments.  The  fact,  that  Augustine 
and  Calvin  cast  a  more   penetrating  eye  than  others  had 


444  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD   STUDY   THE 

done,  into  the  abysses  of  the  spiritual  heavens,  into  the 
nature  of  man  and  the  nature  of  God,  does  not  necessarily 
convict  them  of  presumption  or  of  pride.  It  is  possible 
that  their  researches  into  the  remotest  provinces  of  human 
inquiry,  had  exactly  the  contrary  effect,  —  that  humility 
walked  hand  in  hand  with  science. 

The  first  reason  which  I  would  suggest  for  progress  in 
religious  knowledge,  for  the  study  of  the  higher  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  is  this :  in  no  other  way  can  the  practical 
benefits  of  the  Gospel  be  enjoyed  to  any  great  extent  by 
those  who  have  the  means  of  obtaining  this  knowledge. 
Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  elementary  truths  of  re- 
ligion, whose  minds  are  enlightened  and  active  on  other  sub- 
jects, cannot  expect  that  nutriment  from  the  simpler  truths 
of  the  Gospel,  which  they  might  have  once  enjoyed,  and  of 
which  children  in  the  Christian  life  may  be  now  participating. 

The  reasons  for  this  are  perfectly  obvious.  In  the  first 
place,  God  does  not  impart  his  spiritual  gifts,  without  the 
cooperating  agency  of  the  recipient ;  or  rather,  effbrt,  on 
the  part  of  man,  will  alone  insure  that  state  of  mind  which 
can  enjoy  the  gift.  This  is  the  universal  law  of  his  provi- 
dence. Light  is  communicated  in  proportion  to  the  degree 
it  which  it  can  be  felt,  participated  in.  A  large  amount  of 
consolation,  of  Christian  comfort,  cannot  be  expected  by 
those  who  have  the  capacity  to  make  large  attainments  in 
Christian  knowledge,  hut  fail  to  do  so.  There  is  an  admirable 
fitness  or  measure  between  what  is  communicated  and  what 
an  individual  has  actually  labored  to  comprehend  or  prepare 
himself  for.  A  contrary  procedure  would  subvert  all  our 
natural  ideas,  as  well  as  all  that  we  know  of  the  Divine 
dispensations.     Those  simple  truths  which  might  be  over- 


PROFOUNDER    MYSTERIES   OF    THEIR   FAITH.  445 

flowina:  with  consolation  to  one  in  a  state  of  illness  or  sor- 
row,  with  weakened  powers  of  mind  and  body,  may  lose 
their  chief  attractiveness  to  the  same  individual  when  he  is 
able  to  meditate  on  profounder  truths. 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  a  natural  fitness  or  propor- 
tion between  the  mental  development  and  the  themes  on 
which  the  mind  employs  itself.  Though  all  the  topics  in 
theology,  the  simpler  as  well  as  the  profounder,  are  fitted  in 
certain  aspects  to  tax  the  highest  powers  of  man,  and  may 
contain  mysteries  which  he  cannot  solve,  yet  there  is  still  a 
more  perfect  correspondence  between  a  highly  disciplined 
intellect  and  the  profounder  doctrines  of  our  faith,  than  there 
is  between  such  an  intellect  and  the  simpler  elements  of 
religion.  A  child  may  comprehend  the  most  important 
facts  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  and  duty  of  repentance.  A 
child  cannot  understand  the  analogies  of  religion  to  the  con- 
stitution and  course  of  nature. 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  the  frown  of  conscience  in  the 
one  case,  its  approving  smile  in  the  other.  If  a  Christian, 
with  ample  opportunities,  with  strong  and  cultivated  powers 
of  mind,  neglects  to  make  progress  in  Christian  knowledge, 
does  not  try  to  comprehend,  with  all  saints,  the  height  and 
length  and  breadth  of  the  scheme  of  Christianity,  and  if  he 
endeavors  to  extract  consolation  and  support  from  the  sim- 
ple truths  which  are  appropriate  to  a  novice  in  the  Christian 
life,  then  he  may  expect  the  disapproving  voice  of  con- . 
science,  loud  in  proportion  to  its  susceptibility  and  his  neg- 
lect. If  he  is  precluded,  in  the  providence  of  God,  from 
making  this  advance,  there  is  no  inward  reproach.  If  there 
be  a  strange  disparity  between  the  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual topics  on  which  he  employs  his  mind,  the  moral  sense 
cannot  fail  to  disturb  his  peace. 

VOL.  II.  38 


446  CHRISTIANS    SHOTJLD    STUDY   THE' 

The  second  reason  which  I  would  suggest  for  this  earnest 
attention  to  the  higher  doctrines  of  Christianity,  for  a  syste- 
matic and  steady  advance  in  knowledge  and  grace,  is  de- 
rived from  the  nature  of  the  human  soul. 

We  are  so  made  as  to  take  pleasure  in  what  is  simple, 
easy,  obvious  at  the  first  sight,  having  nothing  which  is 
subtile,  complicated,  or  mutually  dependent.  We  love  what 
is  natural,  inartificial,  that  which  we  can  apprehend  at  once, 
which  appeals  to  our  every-day  and  most  common  feelings 
and  thoughts.  We  are  also  fitted  to  love  what  is  linked 
together  as  a  system,  what  cannot  be  understood  at  a  glance, 
what  has  a  perfect  coherence  in  all  its  parts,  what  has  depth, 
height,  symmetry,  complexity,  what  requires  earnest,  pro- 
longed, and  profound  attention. 

The  Bible  is  the  most  simple  and  unostentatious  book  in 
the  world,  written  in  a  style  of  most  admirable  and  winning 
simplicity,  as  though  the  authors  never  had  a  thought  that 
they  were  recording  any  difficult  or  mysterious  doctrines. 
It  often  sounds  like  a  disconnected  journal,  or  memoranda 
put  down  at  leisure  and  in  those  scraps  of  time  saved  from 
weightier  engagements,  or  it  appears  in  the  form  of  letters, 
most  inartificial  and  confidential.  Well  for  the  world  that  it 
is  so.  Its  exceeding  simplicity  is  one  of  its  divinest  signa- 
tures. Nowhere  does  its  Author's  gracious  benignity  ap- 
pear more  conspicuous.  This  fits  it  for  the  feeble,  for  the 
infirm,  for  millions  of  heathen  just  emerging  from  midnight 
darkness.  Children  may  wander  over  its  sacred  fields,  and 
drink  at  its  refreshing  fountains,  and  never  be  weary  as  they 
pick  up  its  delicious  fruits. 

But,  with  all  this  artless  and  inimitable  simplicity,  along 
with  all  this  prescient  adaptation  and  shaping  to  the  circum- 
stances of  man,  feeble,  poor,  ignorant,  the  Bible  may  be 


PROFOUNDER    MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR   FAITH.  447 

affirmed  to  be,  in  one  sense,  the  most  systematic  of  all  books, 
the  most  coherent,  the  most  susceptible  of  being  viewed  as 
a  perfect  whole,  the  least  obnoxious  to  the  charge  of  being 
superficial,  illogical,  unconnected.  Its  great  doctrines  may 
be  arranged,  not  merely  into  one  systematic  form,  but  into 
many  forms  ;  they  may  be  viewed  in  a  great  variety  of 
connected  relations.  So  a  single,  doctrine  may  contain  a 
system  in  itself.  It  may  have  coherent  and  beautifully  har- 
monizing proofs,  as  well  as  systems  of  practical  instruction. 
It  is  so  with  the  precepts  of  the  Christian  religion.  They 
may  be  wrought  into  a  beautiful  system,  shedding  mutual 
grace  on  each  other,  revealing  common  affinities  before  un- 
known, fitnesses  to  all  our  moral  relations  and  wants,  and  to 
all  our  moral  susceptibilities.  Precisely  analogous  is  the 
composition  of  many  of  the  single  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  book  of  Job  has  many  detached  passages  of  the  most 
impressive  character,  lingering  for  ever  in  one's  memory 
and  appealing  to  the  deepest  sensibilities  of  our  nature.  But 
the  most  striking  characteristic  of  that  poem,  possibly,  is  the 
fine  network,  the  delicate  bands,  invisible  often  to  the  cur- 
sory reader,  which  connect  it  from  beginning  to  end,  which 
make  all  its  parts  fit  together,  and  which  produce  a  final 
and  complete  impression,  beyond  human  art  and  worthy  of 
its  Divine  Author. 

If  such,  therefore,  be  the  constitution  of  the  human  soul, 
loving  order,  delighting  in  system,  ever  tracing  effects  to 
their  causes,  ever  searching  after  the  ultimate  grounds  of 
an  opinion  or  doctrine,  ever  combining  truth,  in  all  its  de- 
partments, into  an  orderly  series,  and  into  comely  propor- 
tions, and  if  the  Scriptures  also  involve  and  presuppose  a 
similar  arrangement  of  their  sublime  doctrines  and  practical 
morals,  then  we  are  furnished  with  a  cogent  argument  in 


448  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD   STUDY    THE 

favor  of  constant  progress  in  Christian  knowledge,  of  patient 
and  strenuous  efforts  in  searching  into  the  deep  things  of 
God,  and  in  comprehending  some  of  those  truths  which  seem 
now  incomprehensible,  mainly  because  of  our  indifference 
and  inattention.  The  very  framework  of  our  moral  and 
intellectual  nature  is  a  strong  antecedent  presumption,  that 
such  is  our  duty  and  our  privilege. 

The  third  reason  which  I  may  be  permitted  to  adduce, 
is  the  additional  light  which  this  progressive  and  profound 
study  of  the  higher  doctrines  would  cast  on  the  simpler  and 
elementary  truths.  We  cannot  understand  or  appreciate  all 
the  interesting  relations  of  these  first  lessons,  without  the 
reflection  of  those  luminous  bodies  which  lie  beyond.  The 
light  of  the  celestial  city,  as  the  pilgrim  drew  near  it,  shot  its 
rays  athwart  the  river  of  death,  and  illuminated  the  moun- 
tains and  valleys,  which  would  have  been  otherwise  shrouded 
in  darkness.  So  of  a  great  Christian  doctrine.  It  makes  all 
the  antecedent  and  preparatory  truths  luminous.  It  sends 
back  its  lines  of  light  far  and  near  into  the  regions  of  natural 
religion.  Comprehending  that,  we  comprehend  these.  Diffi- 
culties here  find  an  adequate  solution  there.  In  studying 
the  profounder,  though  related  truths,  we  unexpectedly  meet 
with  thoughts  and  illustrations  which  clothe  the  simpler  topic 
with  a  fresh  interest.  The  profounder  and  more  distant 
truths  supply  the  urgent  motives  to  understand  those  which 
are  preliminary,  and  to  perform  the  duties  growing  out  of 
them.  What  an  impressive  call  to  repentance  may  be  drawn 
from  the  eternal  decrees  of  God,  from  his  electing  love,  re- 
vealing purposes  of  grace  springing  out  of  the  remotest 
abysses  of  a  past  eternity  !  How  it  reinforces  the  obligation 
to  believe  in  the  Son  of  God,  as  we  study  those  few  but 


PROFOUNDER   MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR   FAITH.  449 

fruitful  words  which  declare  his  preexistent  dignity,  and  the 
nature  of  his  union  with  the  Eternal  Father !  What  an 
impressive  commentary  on  the  importance  of  fraternal 
love  and  a  comprehensive  charity  among  all  Christ's  ser- 
vants, one  may  enjoy  as  he  studies  deeply  into  the  nature 
of  Christianity,  which  knows  no  other  motive  but  God's 
honor,  breathes  no  other  spirit  than  universal  love  !  In- 
deed, all  the  first  principles  and  elementary  truths  of  relig- 
ion are  seen  in  their  truest  and  fairest  proportions,  and  in 
their  most  practical  bearings  also,  only  in  the  reflected  and 
discriminating  light  which  comes  from  the  greater  and  more 
distant  luminaries. 

In  the  fourth  place,  this  diligent  study  of  the  higher  doc- 
trines presupposes  that  we  shall  reach  a  commanding  posi- 
tion from  which  to  view  all  truth.  We  stand  on  a  lofty 
eminence.  The  exact  boundaries  of  several  adjacent  king- 
doms are  visible.  The  great  sea  lies  tranquil  in  the  dis- 
tance. The  rivers,  lined  by  threads  of  living  green,  flow 
along,  each  in  its  own  order,  and  in  that  gracefnl  meander- 
ing in  which  no  two  streams  are  alike.  The  harvests  in  all 
stages  of  their  growth,  in  all  their  variegated  colors,  yet 
with  perfect  distinctness  of  form,  rejoice  under  the  smile  of 
their  Creator.  Man's  works,  too,  just  before  seeming  so 
vast,  or  lifting  themselves  high  up  in  the  heavens,  as  if 
more  cunning  artificers  than  men  had  laid  their  corner-stones, 
now  assume  their  true  and  hardly  discernible  proportions. 
So  when  we  arrive  at  one  of  the  lofty  and  central  truths  of 
the  Christian  system,  there  at  once  appear  admirable  pro- 
portions, consummate  skill  in  arrangement,  or  rather  the 
entire  absence  of  art,  as  if  all  the  parts  grew  by  an  in- 
ward power;  no  deformity,  no  disturbance,  no  incongruity  ; 
38* 


450  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD   STUDY   THE 

a  fitness  and  grace  so  wondrous,  that  the  fairest  of  earth's 
landscapes  can  afford  only  a  faint  type  and  an  inadequate 
symbol. 

The  doctrines  of  Christianity  are  not  all  of  the  same  sig- 
nificance and  value,  even  those  which  w^e  term  fundamen- 
tal. One  truth  differeth  from  another  in  glory.  One  hafs 
for  us  more  practical  instruction  than  another.  Some  lie 
nearer  the  centre  than  others.  Some  rest  on  the  written 
word  alone  ;  others  are  presupposed  and  anticipated  in  the 
earlier  revelations.  This  doctrine  is  attended  with  greater 
difficulties  than  that.  The  nearer,  therefore,  we  approach 
to  the  centre  of  the  system,  the  more  commanding  the  posi- 
tion we  attain,  the  closer  we  stand  to  the  cross  of  Jesus, — 
thicker  clustering  around  us  will  be  the  proofs  of  Divine 
wisdom,  the  more  rapidly  will  difficulties  disappear,  the 
more  will  all  the  parts  become  adjusted  and  in  harmony, 
the  more  luminous  and  enlivening  will  be  the  beams  that 
shall  fall  upon  us.  In  these  heavenly  places,  the  great 
Apostle  seems  almost  uniformly  to  have  stood,  his  mind 
crowded  wi-th  thoughts,  his  heart  overflowing  with  admira- 
tion, as  he  tried  to  make  his  readers  comprehend  with  him 
something  of  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  the  mysteries  which 
were  unfolding  before  him. 

This  leads  me  to  remark,  in  the  fifth  place,  that,  advan- 
cing in  the  knowledge  of  God,  through  his  grace  attaining 
one  elevated  point  after  another,  we  shall  not  only  discover 
truth  in  its  masses,  in  its  outlines  and  larger  forms,  but  the 
more  capable  shall  we  be  to  see  it  in  its  nicer  shades,  in 
those  delicate  lineaments  which  shrink  from  the  vulgar  gaze, 
those  refined  and  almost  invisible  harmonies  which  connect 
what  we  sometimes  imagine  to  be  the  isolated  facts  of  re- 


PROFOUNDER    MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR    FAITH.  451 

demption.  Studying  profoundly,  and  with  that  true  humility 
and  that  unceasing  practical  aim  which  can  alone  insure  suc- 
cess, our  moral  vision  will  become  pure  and  far-sighted,  and 
our  moral  sensibilities  will  become  so  chastened  and  deli- 
cate, that  we  may  be  able  to  see  in  the  works  of  God,  and  in 
the  system  of  redemption,  the  little  filaments  as  it  were,  the 
most  attenuated  threads,  those  lines  of  exquisite  slenderness 
and  grace,  which  are  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  the 
skill  of  Him,  who  clothes  all  nature  and  all  truth  with  ten 
thousand  nameless  beauties,  and  interweaves  within  them 
ten  thousand  harmonies  and  fitnesses.  Thus  a  part  of  our 
present  reward,  in  studying  the  scheme  of  redemption,  is 
not  merely  the  sight  of  truth  in  its  grander  forms  and  in  its 
united  and  imposing  effects,  but  in  its  minute  subdivisions, 
in  its  numberless  small  ramifications  and  delicate  shadings, 
which,  like  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  seem  to  run  into  each 
other,  but  which  are  really  separable  and  distinct.  We  can 
comprehend  even  now  small  portions  at  least  of  the  great 
scheme  of  redemption,  but  we  are  destitute,  for  the  most 
part,  of  those  finer  feelings,  those  delicate  spiritual  appre- 
hensions, which  we  suppose  the  angels  in  light  possess.  Too 
often  we  resemble  a  company  of  children,  running  over  a 
field,  in  which  are  scattered  pieces  of  gold  and  precious 
stones.  We  see  and  carry  oft'  the  larger  and  apparently  the 
richer  fragments,  but  our  steps  are  too  hurried  and  our  vis- 
ion is  too  dull,  to  permit  us  to  see  the  little,  half-concealed 
gems  that  are  of  untold  value. 

In  the  last  place,  it  should  seem  that  a  common  feeling 
of  gratitude  would  lead  us  to  leave  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  the  suburbs  of  the  city  of  God,  and  pene- 
trate to  the  nobler  views  that  shall  greet  our  vision  within. 


452  CHRISTIANS    SHOULD    STUDY    THE 

It  is  a  great  privilege  to  ascend  some  of  earth's  moun- 
tain-tops, and  gaze  on  the  outspread  bosom  of  the  earth, 
till  the  finite  seems  to  be  almost  lost  in  the  infinite.  For 
these  faint  reflections  from  God's  face,  one  cannot  be  too 
grateful. 

It  is  a  high  privilege  to  look  through  the  astronomer's 
glass.  One  would  think  that  the  heart  would  overflow  with 
emotion,  and  words  of  gratitude  would  constantly  tremble 
on  the  lips,  as  one  leaf  after  another  of  that  sublime  theol- 
ogy is  unrolled  before  us. 

Greater  still,  if  possible,  is  the  privilege  of  gating  at  the 
other  extreme  of  God's  works ;  of  beholding,  through  the 
medium  of  science,  the  wonders  on  wonders,  which  a  small 
worm,  a  dry  leaf,  a  little  flintstone,  a  minute  coral  of  the 
ocean,  reveal.  How  can  one  hesitate,  living  in  such  mys- 
teries, to  bow  down  in  grateful  praise  and  lowly  adoration  ! 
But  what  are  all  these  in  comparison  with  the  truths  of  re- 
demption, with  the  grace  of  the  Redeemer,  the  love  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  mystery  of  godliness,  the  themes  in  which 
we  have  the  angels  for  fellow-students,  our  Lord  as  the  om- 
niscient insti'uctor,  our  own  endless  well-being  as  both  the 
immediate  and  the  ultimate  aim  !  Common  thankfulness, 
it  should  seem,  would  lead  us  never  to  tire  in  plucking  these 
medicinal  leaves,  these  immortal  fruits,  which  grow  for  our 
especial  benefit.  By  remembering  what  God  has  done  for 
us,  we  should  be  impelled  to  make  the  utmost  practical 
use  of  all  those  regenerating  truths  which  lie  within  our 
possible  grasp.  Or  rather,  we  should  need  no  external 
inducement,  no  pressing  invitation,  no  suggestion  of  con- 
science or  of  gratitude.  We  could  not  stay  away  from  this 
royal  table.  We  should  throng  around  these  wells  of  living 
water.      So  ennobling  is  Divine   truth,  so  healing  to  the 


PROFOTJNDER    MYSTERIES    OF    THEIR    FAITH.  453 

broken  spirit,  so  precisely  does  it  meet  the  craving  wants  of 
a  corrupt  natui-e,  so  fully  does  it  respond  to  the  yearnings  of 
the  immortal  spirit,  so  efficacious  is  it  in  all  the  exigencies 
of  our  being,  in  life  and  in  death,  that  we  should  feel  a 
kind  of  insatiable  covetousness  till  we  have  sounded  its 
depths,  and  climbed  its  heights,  and  made  trial  of  its  last 
possible  powers  of  help  and  restoration,  and  given  to  our 
Redeemer  that  tribute  of  love,  of  honor,  of  thankfulness,  as 
great  and  as  trustful  as  the  limits  of  a  finite  capacity  will 
permit. 


COLLATERAL  SIGNS  OF  HUMAN  DEPRAVITY. 


A  PROFOUND  and  practical  belief  of  the  depravity  of 
man,  the  depravity  of  man  as  such,  is  of  the  'greatest  im- 
portance in  several  respects.  Without  it,  we  are  liable  to 
judge  of  human  character  and  of  all  moral  subjects  very 
superficially.  We  look  only  on  the  surface  of  things,  not 
penetrating  to  the  depths  of  the  soul,  where  virtue  and  vice 
have  their  origin,  where  alone  the  color  and  complexion  of 
motives  can  be  ascertained.  Without  this  belief,  we  are  not 
in  a  position  to  estimate  any  moral  subject  aright,  but  shall 
certainly  form  erroneous  or  inadequate  views.  Our  own 
personal  character,  too,  will  be  laid  on  an  insufficient  basis. 
A  thorough  conviction  of  the  sins  and  imperfections  which 
characterize  man,  all  men,  ourselves  as  individuals,  forms 
the  only  true  foundation  of  character.  Genuine  humility, 
or  what  the  Scriptures  denominate  brokenness  of  heart,  is 
an  indispensaMe  element  in  human  character.  If  we  cher- 
ish only  faint  impressions  of  our  sinfulness,  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  will  be  an  insolvable  riddle,  will  be  robbed  of  its 
chief  worth  and  significance.  It  is  a  remedial  system,  an 
extraordinary  provision  of  grace,  only  to  those  who  are  con- 
vinced of  their  personal  and  urgent  necessities.     It  is  not 


COLLATERAL   SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  455 

singular,  that  the  condition  of  the  heathen  awakens  but  little 
interest  among  all  those  classes  of  religionists  who  deny  or 
doubt  the  melancholy  truth  of  man's  lost  estate.  It  is  only 
by  a  deep  and  all-pervading  conviction  of  the  churches,  that 
the  pagan  is  actually  in  this  moral  ruin,  that  adequate  and 
immediate  relief  will  be  supplied.  If  he  possess  germs  of 
goodness  which  will  be  likely  to  thrive  under  the  dews  and 
light  of  the  religion  of  nature,  then  it  is  not  difficult  to  jus- 
tify our  tardiness  or  reluctance  in  sending  to  him  the  Gospel. 
"  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician." 

But  important  as  this  deep-seated  conviction  is,  it  is  not 
easy  of  attainment.  No  task  is  harder  than  to  obtain  a  prac- 
tical and  influential  belief  in  a  truth  which  is  so  vital,  but 
still  so  humiliating.  The  impediments  are  numerous ;  the 
counter-influences  are  insidious  and  ever  operating. 

First,  there  is  the  pride  of  personal  opinion,  which  is  hard 
to  be  overcome  ;  the  inherent  and  overweening  selfishness, 
the  proud  or  the  vain  self-conceit,  which  may  admit  that 
there  is  depravity  in  general,  but  which  will  perseveringly 
deny  it  in  particular,  which  is  ready  to  confess  to  weak- 
nesses if  they  are  not  made  too  specific,  and  if  they  are 
not  represented  as  flowing  from  a  hidden  fountain  of  cor- 
ruption. 

Secondly,  there  is  the  reluctance  to  judge  harshly  of 
others.  It  seems  to  be  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  courtesy 
and  of  Christian  charity,  to  think  or  to  speak  of  our  neigh- 
bors and  friends  as  the  subjects,  one  and  all,  of  a  deep- 
seated,  radical  moral  disorder.  It  may  shock  our  ideas  of 
propriety  and  of  what  is  due  in  social, intercourse,  to  apply 
to  all  men  indiscriminately  those  elements  of  moral  char- 
acter, which  seem  to  belong  only  to  the  most  abandoned  of 
the  race. 


456  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY. 

Then,  thirdly,  we  may  find  it  difficult  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  different  exercises  or  states  of  our  minds.  We  find 
it  hard,  fi^r  example,  to  discriminate  between  the  dictates  of 
reason  and  the  impulses  of  a  depraved  heart.  When  we 
listen  to  the  voice  of  reason,  mark  its  pure  light,  take  cog- 
nizance of  its  ennobling  conceptions,  and  consider  its  pos- 
sible growth  and  culture,  we  can  hardly  bring  ourselves  to 
the  belief  that  such  a  faculty  can  dwell  in  the  midst  of 
moral  impurity,  can  be  subjected  to  the  law  of  sin  and 
death ;  or  we  confound  its  operations  with  the  darker  move- 
ments of  the  heart.  Because  one  seems  to  be  heavenward 
in  its  tendency,  we  fondly  imagine  the  other  to  be  so  like- 
wise. 

Then,  fourthly,  there  is  the  same  obstacle  resulting  from 
the  want  of  discrimination  between  the  dictate  of  the  moral 
sense  and  of  the  heart.  We  know  and  approve  what  is 
good,  and  are  tempted  to  think  that  in  this  knowledge  and 
approbation  there  is  the  feeling  of  complacency,  the  emo- 
tion of  true  virtue.  We  do  not  yield  an  implicit  obedience 
to  the  commands  of  this  moral  sense  ;  yet,  because  its  voice 
is  not  entirely  hushed,  nor  its  authority  over  the  soul  utterly 
set  at  naught,  we  may  imagine  that  the  heart  beats  respon- 
sive, and  that  we  are  gradually  gaining  the  mastery  over 
the  evil  that  is  within  us.  We  fail  to  distinguish  between 
the  voice  of  conscience  and  those  feelings  which  give  the 
tone  and  coloring  to  our  character  as  it  is  in  the  sight 
of  God. 

Allied  to  this,  there  are  certain  aspirations  of  the  soul 
towards  God,  constitutional  it  may  be,  the  product  partly  of 
imagination,  partly  of  a  reflective  turn  of  mind.  There  are 
brief  moments  when  the  downward  motion  of  the  soul 
seems  to  be  suspended  ;  when  the  depraved  tendencies  are 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN   DEPRAVITY.  457 

in  a  kind  of  abeyance  ;  when  there  is  a  gleam  of  light  from 
that  brightness  which  originally  surrounded  the  soul  ;  when 
there  are  certain  mysterious  sounds  from  that  cunning  harp 
whose  strings  are  not  quite  all  broken.  This  momentary 
experience  may  be  mistaken  for  true  virtue.  These  occa- 
sional and  almost  unaccountable  states  of  mind  may  seem 
to  be  proof  positive,  that  the  soul  is  actually  gaining  the 
mastery  over  its  powers  of  evil. 

There  is  also  the  feeling  of  natural  gratitude,  a  joyous- 
ness  of  the  heart  when  prosperity  attends  us,  a  spontaneous 
going  forth  of  the  affections  towards  God  as  the  benefactor 
of  his  creatures,  which  is  not  the  perennial,  spiritual,  prac- 
tical feeling  required  by  the  Gospel,  but  which  may  be 
readily  confounded  with  it. 

There  are  also  natures  which  are  constitutionally  gener- 
ous, high-minded,  endued  with  the  nicest  perceptions  of 
what  is  true  and  honorable  ;  shrinking,  like  the  sensitive 
plant,  from  aught  which  is  corrupt  and  mean ;  persons  en- 
dued with  singular  delicacy  and  purity  of  feeling,  to  whom 
it  were  a  bitter  thing  to  inflict  on  another  the  slightest  pain. 

There  is,  besides,  the  large  class  whose  social  sympa- 
thies are  quick,  who  in  all  the  common  relations  of  life  are 
kindly,  overflowing  with  good-will  towards  all  around  them, 
or  who  have  made  the  culture  of  a  symmetrical  and  beau- 
tiful domestic  character  the  object  of  special  attention,  and 
who  would  really  be  the  ornaments  and  bright  examples  of 
any  community. 

Now  these  and  many  other  classes  of  feeling,  these  and 
many  other  descriptions  of  character,  so  common  in  a  highly 
civilized  and  Christian  community,  render  it  difficult  to  con- 
vince ourselves  and  others,  that  there  may  be  in  connection 
a  radical  and  alarming  depravity  ;  that  the  moral  fountain 

VOL.  II.  39 


458  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF   HUMAN    DEPRAVITY. 

Still  sends  out  its  bitter  waters  ;  that  beneath  this  fascinating 
exterior  there  is  not  one  throb  of  truly  virtuous  emotion ; 
that  the  heart  is  cold,  utterly  indifferent,  towards  the  Creator 
and  Redeemer ;  that  there  is  no  complacency  in  those  spir- 
itual objects  which  should  be  the  continual  feast  of  man's 
immortal  spirit.  In  short,  we  are  misled  ;  we  do  not  discrim- 
inate between  true  virtue,  the  characteristics  of  Scriptural 
holiness,  and  certain  qualities  or  elements  which  may  co- 
exist with,  or  which  may  form  the  staple  of,  a  character  that 
is  predominantly  selfish. 

At  the  same  time,  if  we  fail  to  become  thoroughly  con- 
vinced that  7)ian,  all  men,  are  involved  in  a  common  and 
melancholy  apostasy,  that  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  the  high 
and  the  low,  the  learned  and  the  ignorant,  are  lying  under 
the  condemnation  of  the  law,  it  is  not  for  want  of  suffi- 
cient evidence.  The  truth  is  supported  by  the  amplest 
proof.  Nature  and  revelation,  man's  voice  and  God's,  the 
sinless  yet  suffering  animal  creation,  the  records  of  the  past, 
the  forebodings  of  the  future,  the  sad  consciousness  of  the 
present,  one  and  all  give  in  their  mournful  verdict. 

The  proofs  of  man's  depravity  are  numerous,  direct,  and 
unequivocal. 

There  are  the  positive  assertions  of  the  Scriptures,  decla- 
rations which  comprehend  the  race  without  exception,  which 
admit  of  no  doubt  or  limitation,  which  declare  that  Jews 
and  Gentiles  are  all  under  sin.  These  two  classes  exhaust 
mankind. 

Then  there  are  the  implications  of  the  Bible.  Many  of 
the  exhortations  and  precepts  of  the  New  Testament  in- 
volve the  truth  of  this  doctrine,  and  are  unintelligible  with- 
out it.  This  virtual,  incidental,  indirect  proof  is  often  the 
most  convincing. 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  459 

Christianity  itself  is  an  argument  for  the  sanne  doctrine. 
Without  this  truth  Christianity  would  be  superfluous,  an 
amazing  expenditure  of  means  and  resources  with  no  ade- 
quate object.  The  cost  of  the  provision  presupposes  the 
depth  of  the  necessity.  The  comprehensive  nature  of  the 
remedy  proceeds  on  the  ground  of  the  universality  of  the 
disease.     If  man  is  not  lost,  then  Christ  died  in  vain. 

Another  argument  is  tlie  testimony  of  history,  of  all 
history,  of  the  history  of  every  nation.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  say  that  the  public  annals  of  the  most  enlightened, 
the  most  highly  civilized,  even  the  most  Christian  nation 
that  has  ever  existed,  or  does  now  exist,  cannot  be  read  by 
any  thoughtful  man  without  tears,  without  a  sinking  of  the 
heart,  without  a  sense  of  shame,  without  indignation.  If 
there  is  an  occasional  calm  on  this  restless  sea,  it  is  decep- 
tive ;  it  forebodes  a  fiercer  tempest.  If  mankind  have  not 
been  overtaken  with  a  terrible  moral  disaster,  why  has  there 
not  been,  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages,  some  tribe  or  nation 
which  has  constituted  an  exception,  one  luminous  spot  in 
the  gloomy  sky,  one  illustrious  example  of  the  humanizing 
and  ennobling  influence  of  learning,  culture,  civilization, 
and  of  the  better  feelings  of  our  nature  ? 

Should  we  leave  the  page  of  general  history,  and  exam- 
ine the  traditions,  the  unwritten  records  of  small  communi- 
ties, neighborhoods,  families,  would  the  case  be  essentially 
different  ?  Is  it  not  bliss  here  to  be  ignorant }  Passions 
which  elsewhere  convulse  the  world,  here  run  their  little 
round,  unobserved,  it  may  be,  by  the  stranger,  but  cor- 
roding and  wasting  whatever  they  touch. 

Again,  there  is  an  argument  drawn  from  the  personal  ex- 
perience of  the  most  reflecting,  thoughtful,  self-scrutinizing 
individuals  ;  —  an  experience,  painful  and  most  humiliating, 


460  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF   HTJMAN    DEPRAVITY. 

forced  upon  them  in  every  hour  of  candid  reflection.  How 
to  perform  that  which  is  good,  they  find  not ;  the  will,  the 
boasted  iron  will,  is  not  to  be  depended  on.  The  reason  and 
the  conscience  ever  point  and  struggle  upward,  but  there  is  a 
stronger  power,  treacherous  and  malignant,  ever  on  the  alert. 

But  without  dilating  on  these  arguments,  let  us  briefly 
consider  a  class  of  facts,  which  possibly  may  not  be  regarded 
as  proofs  so  much  as  corroborating  circumstances,  which 
render  the  doctrine  of  human  sinfulness  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  probable,  which  cannot  well  be  explained  without 
admitting  its  truth.  Some  of  the  considerations  to  which  I 
refer,  may  indeed  be  regarded  as  virtual  proofs ;  others,  as 
auxiliary  circumstances.  All  may  have  weight  with  those 
persons  who  distrust,  or  who  are  not  convinced  by  the  com- 
mon and  obvious  arguments. 

The  first  fact  which  I  shall  mention  is,  the  unwillingness 
to  be  satisfied  with  the  truth  of  Christianity,  after  it  is  estab- 
lished on  a  solid  foundation ;  a  strange  hesitation  to  ad- 
mit the  evidence  which  is  so  abundantly  presented  ;  a  con- 
stant demand  for  additional  light ;  a  determination  not  to  be 
practically  convinced,  till  every  difficulty  is  obviated,  till 
every  apparent  discrepancy  is  reconciled.  Now  this  is  not 
the  method  which  we  take  in  regard  to  any  other  subject. 
In  all  the  affairs  of  common  life,  in  all  matters  depending 
on  human  testimony,  in  all  which  concerns  man's  compli- 
cated relations  on  earth,  we  are  accustomed  quietly  to  rest 
on  well-established  evidence,  though  it  be  not  absolutely 
perfect,  though  there  may  be  a  lower  degi'ee  of  countervail- 
ing testimony,  though  there  may  be  subordinate  circum- 
stances for  which  it  is  difficult  to  account.  In  all  such 
cases  we  feel  no  misgiving.  We  proceed  at  once  to  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  growing  out  of  our  belief,     Scepti- 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  461 

cism  would  be  a  mark  of  folly  or  insanity.  But  in  respect 
to  the  Gospel  men  adopt  an  altogether  different  procedure. 
There  it  stands,  supported  by  a  weight  of  evidence  to 
which  no  other  ancient  record  can  lay  the  least  claim  ;  can- 
vassed, sifted,  confronted,  cross-examined,  as  no  other  book 
ever  has  been ;  all  its  statements  of  facts,  contemporary 
allusions,  incidental  notions,  as  well  as  its  cardinal  truths 
and  doctrines,  subjected  to  the  keenest  inspection,  and  sus- 
pected or  denounced  if  one  and  all  of  them  do  not  come 
unharmed  from  this  seven  times  heated  furnace.  Other 
subjects  we  put  at  rest.  In  other  matters  demanding  our 
assent  and  our  practical  faith,  we  acquiesce.  We  res*  upon 
them  as  established  truths.  But  the  Gospel,  men  are  not 
willing  to  take  out  of  the  arena  of  strife,  and  live  upon  it, 
and  be  nourished  by  it  as  a  faithful  saying,  worthy  of  all 
acceptation.  A  distinguished  scholar  once  said,  that  he 
would  not  believe  in  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  unless  they 
could  be  proved  by  mathematical  evidence.  Multitudes, 
who  would  not  make  a  declaration  so  unreasonable  as  that, 
still  hesitate,  and  demand,  if  not  a  kind,  still  an  amount  of 
proof,  or  a  freedom  from  difficulties,  which  from  the  nature 
of  the  case  never  can  be  furnished. 

It  is,  indeed,  proper  to  require  adequate  evidence  befbre 
we  can  admit  the  Gospel  as  true  and  binding  upon  us,  be- 
cause of  the  wonderful  facts  which  it  propounds,  its  stupen- 
dous miraculous  agency.  But  when  they  are  attested  by 
competent  witnesses,  when  the  supposition  of  their  falsity 
would  be  a  greater  wonder  than  the  miracle  itself,  then 
our  want  of  belief  may  indicate  something  else  and  some- 
thing more  melancholy  than  absence  of  proof  or  inability 
to  judge  of  evidence.  Were  man  but  partially  depraved, 
were  his  depravity  the  mere  product  of  habit  or  circum- 
39* 


462  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF   HUMAN    DEPRAVITY. 

stances,  were  he  in  a  condition  of  misfortune  or  misery 
merely,  the  provisions  of  the  Gospel  would  assuredly  meet 
at  his  hands  a  cordial  welcome,  because  they  are  fittec^  most 
precisely  to  his  nature  and  wants,  because  they  unfold  to 
him  richer  blessings,  a  nobler  destiny  than  legend  or  fable 
ever  invented,  because  they  give  him  here  an  antepast  of 
the  royal  feast  that  awaits  him  hereafter.  Were  his  mind 
in  the  state  in  which  that  of  a  few  heathen  is  said  to  have 
been  on  the  first  promulgation  of  the  Gospel  to  them,  he 
could  hardly  wait  till  the  evidences  might  be  spread  out 
before  him,  —  his  heart  would  rush  to  embrace  it.  But  the 
difficulty  is,  unrenewed  men  do  not  wish  to  come  to  the  light 
lest  their  deeds  should  be  reproved.  The  Gospel  lays  too 
heavy  a  tax  on  their  pride  ;  its  demands  clash  with  certain 
favorite  plans  or  pursuits,  and  their  continued  unbelief  is 
attributed  to  want  of  evidence,  when  it  is  really  owing  to 
an  unwillingness  to  do  what  the  Gospel  imposes  on  every 
believer. 

In  the  second  place,  an  illustration  of  a  deep-seated  moral 
disorder  may  be  drawn  from  the  fact,  that  the  Gospel  mo- 
rality, everywhere  and  by  all  classes  of  men  eulogized,  has 
not  been  by  many,  even  in  profession,  much  less  in  prac- 
tice, adopted  as  the  rule  of  life,  even  by  those  who  have 
most  loudly  commended  it.  It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that 
sceptics,  men  who  have  ridiculed  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pel, the  system  of  redemption,  have  separated  its  morality 
from  it,  have  warmly  approved,  for  example,  of  our  Lord's 
sermon  on  the  mount,  and  have  seen  much  to  admire  in  the 
personal  character  of  the  Saviour  himself. 

No  one,  indeed,  with  an  ordinary  degree  of  discernment, 
or  with  a  common  knowledge  of  human  systems  and  of 
the  state  of  the  world,  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  pure  and 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  463 

sublime  nature  of  the  New  Testament  morality.  But  if  so, 
why  is  it  not  made  a  matter  of  earnest  and  profound  study, 
and  of  practical  adoption  as  the  rule  of  life  ?  Certainly,  it 
was  not  intended  as  an  abstract  and  beautiful  theory,  the 
subject  of  analysis  or  of  scientific  consideration.  It  is  a 
chart  for  the  guidance  of  every  individual  who  becomes 
acquainted  with  it.  It  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and 
intents  of  the  heart.  Its  jurisdiction  is  over  the  motives  as 
well  as  the  act.  It  addresses  every  reader  and  every 
hearer,  as  personally  and  deeply  interested  in  its  spirit  and 
in  all  its  provisions.  It  was  made  for  wan,  weak,  erring, 
sinful,  beset  with  dangers.  Still,  it  is  notorious  that  all  that 
large  class  of  men  to  whom  I  refer,  and  who  choose  to  con- 
sider it  apart  from  that  peculiar  redeeming  system  out  of 
which  it  grows,  have  not  made  it  the  rule  of  their  life. 
They  have,  it  may  be,  openly  and  formally  renounced  its 
claims,  have  considered  it  as  having  no  practical,  binding 
sanction  whatever ;  or  else  they  have  passed  it  by  in  neg- 
lect, have  never  allowed  it,  through  the  care  and  pressure  of 
other  things,  to  disturb  the  even  and  quiet  tenor  of  their 
life ;  or  possibly  they  have  selected  parts  of  it,  precepts 
which  involved  the  least  self-denial,  or  which  accorded  with 
their  habits  of  thinking,  or  fell  in  with  certain  tendencies  of 
their  own,  or  which,  severed  from  the  system,  would  pro- 
duce little  practical  effect ;  or  it  may  be  that  they  have  at 
one  time  or  another  endeavored  to  cherish  its  spirit  and 
obey  its  injunctions,  but  have  found  a  sad  inability  to  the 
task.  The  holy  precept  has  awakened  some  before  dor- 
mant opposition.  Some  antagonist  power  has  aroused  itself 
in  the  depths  of  their  spirit ;  some  long-slumbering  energy 
of  evil  has  started  up  alarmed,  as  if  its  rights  were  involved. 
In  other  words,  there  is  a  strange  and  unaccountable  reluc- 


464  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY. 

tance  honestly  and  implicitly  to  follow  precepts  whicn  seem 
to  be  so  fair  in  theory,  and  which  commend  themselves  to 
all  one's  better  judgments  and  feelings. 

Now  this  total  neglect  of  what  is  true  and  good,  or  this 
coming  short  of  obedience  to  it,  is  accounted  for  only  on 
07ie  mournful  and  humiliating  supposition.  The  Gospel 
morality  does  not  find  the  heart  ready  to  embrace  it.  The 
Saviour's  precepts  fall  on  thorny  ground.  As  a  practical 
system,  it  is  inseparable  from  and  subsequent  to  the  cordial 
reception  of  those  great  doctrines  which  form  the  soul 
anew,  and  fit  it  to  run  in  the  way  of  God's  commandments. 

We  may  take,  in  the  third  place,  a  more  specific  fact,  a 
general,  if  not  universal,  characteristic  of  our  race  ;  namely, 
the  preference  of  intellectual  to  moral  worth,  the  undervalu- 
ing of  goodness  in  comparison  with  talent.  Of  this  fact 
there  are  proofs  and  illustrations  innumerable.  We  are 
always  deeply  interested  in  the  exhibition  of  commanding 
ability,  as  we  ought  to  be  ;  but  this  leads  us  to  overlook  or 
extenuate  moral  delinquencies,  as  it  ought  not  to  do.  If  an 
individual,  on  a  large  or  on  a  small  scale,  has  shown  extra- 
ordinary cunning  and  ingenuity,  this  is  a  cloak  for  a  multi- 
tude of  sins.  The  very  quality  which  fits  him  to  become  a 
flagrant  transgressor  is  to  us,  not  simply  an  object  of  admi- 
ration, but  the  occasion  of  throwing  a  gloss  over  his  crimes, 
and  of  lowering  the  standard  of  virtue.  In  God's  view,  the 
greater  the  talent  which  is  enlisted  in  a  bad  cause,  the  more 
unmixed  is  the  abhorrence  which  it  should  excite,  and  the 
more  speedy  and  summary  is  the  punishment  which  is  due. 
A  young  man  of  extraordinary  talents  and  genius,  but  of 
vicious  moral  principles,  is  almost  always  the  idol  of  the 
circle  in  which  he  moves.  The  virtuous,  while  they  theo- 
retically condemn  his   course,  are  too  apt  to  fall  in  with 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  465 

the  current  eulogy,  or  at  least  to  administer  very  lenient 
rebukes.  How  common  it  is  for  professedly  religious  peo- 
ple, especially  in  our  large  cities,  to  associate,  on  the  most 
friendly  terms,  with  one  whose  only  title  to  their  regard  is 
superior  talent,  fascinating  conversational  power,  or  some 
other  intellectual  gift.  Mere  moral  goodness,  or  the  exhibi- 
tion of  virtue  combined  with  only  moderate  mental  ability, 
rarely  attracts  any  special  notice,  even  from  those  who 
would  feel  bound  formally  to  subscribe  to  that  standard,  to 
which  they  are  far  from  attaining  in  practice.  How  often  is 
it  said,  such  a  one  is  a  good  man ;  such  another  is  a  man 
of  strict  moral  integrity,  but  he  is  rather  weak,  or  his  mental 
endowments  are  quite  moderate.  The  truth  is  stated,  it 
may  be,  but  in  such  a  manner,  and  with  such  a  tone,  as  to 
make  the  impression  that  virtue,  benevolence,  piety,  are 
really  of  less  consequence  than  splendid  intellectual  powers, 
or  that  the  individual  is  really  in  fault  for  not  exhibiting 
what  he  never  possessed.  This  preference  for  intellectual 
endowment  or  attainment  is  so  general,  that  it  has  passed 
into  a  notorious  maxim  ;  it  is  found  to  be  safer,  it  is  less 
wounding  to  personal  pride,  it  will  less  endanger  the  main- 
tenance of  friendship,  to  deprecate  the  moral  than  the  intel- 
lectual character.  Calumny  directed  against  the  goodness 
of  one's  intentions,  does  not  offend  so  much  as  that  directed 
against  the  vigor  or  capacity  of  one's  mind.  Professing 
Christians  are  not  by  any  means  exempt  from  this  weak- 
ness, this  utterly  erroneous  standard  of  judgment.  Humble 
worth,  unobtrusive  goodness,  tender  affection,  incorruptible 
integrity,  are  scorned  or  undervalued,  if  they  are  not  con- 
nected with  commanding  talent.  We  notice  slightly,  or  in- 
geniously explain  away,  serious  defects  of  a  moral  nature, 
provided  the  transgressor  have  an  acute  mind  or  a  brilliant 


466  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HPMAN   DEPRAVITY. 

genius.  We  put  sagacity  in  the  place  of  integrity.  We 
deify  qualities  which  man  has  in  common  with  fallen  spirits, 
while  we  make  little  account  of  that  which,  in  the  sight  of 
the  blessed  angels,  is  beyond  price. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  advert  to  any  of  the  considera- 
tions which  show  the  folly  and  erroneousness  of  this  stand- 
ard. What  is  it  that  is  really  attractive  in  the  character  of 
our  Lord  ?  Is  it  not  his  divine  compassion  ?  Is  it  not  his 
true  humanity,  loving  all  that  breathes,  sympathizing  with 
life  wherever  it  is  found  ?  Is  it  not  his  ennobling  affections, 
which  neither  time  nor  eternity  could  limit  ?  Is  it  not  his 
meekness,  which  would  not  break  a  bruised  reed  ?  his  gentle- 
ness, for  which  his  disciples  could  find  no  so  apt  emblem  as 
the  lamb  and  the  dove  ?  Can  we  form  a  more  unworthy 
conception  of  his  character,  than  that  it  was  intellectual, 
apart  from  or  predominating  over  the  other  qualities  of  his 
nature. 

What  is  it  that  is  principally  attractive  in  the  bliss  of 
heaven  ?  What  developments  of  character  are  most  impres- 
sive, where  mere  intellectual  gifts  have  vanished  away  for 
ever  ?  What  is  the  source  of  the  joy  that  fills  the  soul 
when  first  transplanted  to  those  fair  regions  ?  That  sweet 
singer,  who  lost  his  melancholy  for  a  little  moment,  as  he 
took  down  his  harp  and  sung,  in  strains  almost  divine,  of 
that  day  when  rivers  of  gladness  should  water  all  the  earth  ; 
what  may  we  imagine  to  have  been  the  source  of  his  happi- 
ness, as  he  suddenly  emerged  from  that  cloud,  which  grew 
thicker  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life  ?  Love,  doubtless, 
emotions  of  overwhelming  love  to  that  mighty  Redeemer, 
who  healed  his  wounded  spirit,  and  gently  drew  him  upward, 
and  gave  him  the  palm  of  victory,  and  a  harp  that  would 
never  again  be  silent  or  dissonant. 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  467 

I  adduce,  in  the  fifth  place,  as  an  illustration  of  the  sub- 
ject, a  species  of  false  humility,  which  consists  in  the  studied 
depreciation  of  one's  self,  accompanied  with  an  entire  un- 
willingness that  others  should  accord  with  that  severe  judg- 
ment. We  are  willing  to  make  the  most  ample  confessions 
of  our  ignorance  or  unworthiness  in  general,  or  on  specific 
points,  provided  others  do  not  confirm  or  carry  out  this  ac- 
knowledgment. This  may  be  said  to  be  a  characteristic  of 
the  human  race,  natural  to  man,  revealed  in  a  thousand 
circumstances  and  relations.  How  often  will  parents  allege 
facts  implying  the  weakness  or  viciousness  of  their  children, 
and  yet  they  would  be  instantly  and  greatly  offended,  should 
a  neighbor  allude,  even  in  delicate  terms,  to  the  same  faults  ! 
The  people  of  a  portion  of  the  country  where  a  great  moral 
evil  exists  will  often  speak  of  it  in  terms  of  decided  repre- 
hension, while  they  are  utterly  unwilling  to  allow  others, 
who  are  not  particularly  connected  with  it,  to  reiterate  this 
condemnation.  The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  the  judg- 
ments which  different  nations  frankly  pronounce  on  them- 
selves, but  which  they  cannot  tolerate  if  reechoed  from 
some  foreign  source. 

Now  if  this  self-condemnation  be  sincere,  and  if  we  be 
■  willing  to  reveal  it  to  others,  why  should  we  hesitate  to  per- 
mit them  to  unite  in  the  verdict  ?  If  it  be  not  true  in  our 
opinion,  why  speak  of  it?  If  it  be  true,  why  this  sensitive- 
ness lest  others  should  accord  with  our  judgment  ?  May  it 
not  be  implied,  that  we  do  not  really  believe  the  charge  our- 
selves, are  not  sincere  in  the  confession  ?  or  that  we  are 
conscious  that  it  has  some  foundation,  and  are  desirous  to 
anticipate  and  preclude  a  harsher  or  more  detailed  charge 
which  might  be  made  against  us  ?  or  that  possibly,  in  our 
self-deception,  we   attribute   faults  and  weaknesses   to  our- 


468  COLLATERAL   SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY. 

selves,  in  order  that  others  may  rebut  the  charge,  and  as- 
sure us  that  we  are  mistaken,  that  we  have  formed  a  too 
low  opinion  of  ourselves  ?  or,  if  there  be  some  human  in- 
firmities cleaving  to  us,  they  lean  to  the  side  of  virtue,  while 
our  characters  are  set  off  and  adorned  by  some  great  and 
preponderating  excellences  ?  On  no  subject,  perhaps,  does 
the  selfishness  of  man's  heart  exhibit  more  ingenuity,  adopt 
a  greater  variety  of  shifts  and  devices,  or  reveal  its  essential 
turpitude,  more  strikingly  than  in  this  show  of  humility. 

The  point  which  I  wish  to  illustrate  is  further  confirmed, 
in  the  sixth  place,  by  the  general  distrust  of  each  other  which 
prevails  among  men.  In  all  business  transactions,  in  all 
the  varied  routine  of  commercial  dealings,  in  all  the  provis- 
ions of  law  relating  to  the  subject,  in  all  the  current  maxims 
of  society,  in  all  the  counsels  given  to  young  men  entering 
on  business,  the  dishonesty  of  man  is  taken  for  granted  ;  not 
the  dishonesty  of  now  and  then  an  individual,  but  of  men 
generally ;  not  the  dishonesty  of  Asiatics  merel)'",  but  of 
Europeans  and  Americans  ;  not  the  dishonesty  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  newly  formed  or  unformed  settlements,  but  in 
our  oldest  and  most  Christian  towns  and  cities.  Many  of 
the  provisions  of  commercial  law  are  founded  on  the  un- 
trustworthiness  of  man,  and  are  unintelligible  without  it, 
and  the  improvements  in  this  law  are  owing  in  part  to  a 
more  accurate  and  profound  acquaintance  with  the  records 
of  human  depravity. 

Now  it  is  not  true  to  say,  that  these  provisions  are  made 
necessary  because  it  is  necessaiy  to  guard  against  a  possible 
contingency,  or  an  occasional  infraction  of  law.  They  are 
founded  on  the  well-ascertained  fact  of  the  weakness  of  the 
moral  principle,  of  the  cogent  and  often  invincible  power 
of  temptation,  or,  in  other  words,  on  the  fact  that  the  dishon- 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  469 

esty,  rather  than  the  moral  integrity,  of  man  is  to  be  taken 
for  granted.  The  system  of  guards,  restrictions,  careful 
and  minute  specifications  of  what  constitutes  delinquency, 
is  founded  on  the  frailness  of  man's  boasted  integrity ;  it 
virtually  recognizes  what  the  Scriptures  affirm,  that  men 
are  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  covetousness ;  that  they 
are  inventors  of  evil  things,  covenant-breakers.  Otherwise, 
why  is  there  not  some  exception  to  the  necessity  for  these 
laws  }  Why,  with  advancing  civilization,  may  not  these 
laws  become  less  stringent  and  comprehensive  .?  Why  do 
they  not  become  a  dead  letter  in  those  enlightened  commu- 
nities, where  a  high  sense  of  what  is  just  and  honorable 
prevails  ?  Why  are  caution,  shrewdness,  an  unceasing 
watchfulness,  indispensable  to  all,  who  would  not  be  over- 
reached, and  who  would  succeed  in  the  business  of  life  ? 

I  mention,  in  the  last  place,  as  an  illustration  of  man's 
depravity,  the  careful  exclusion  in  all  courts  of  justice,  in 
all  ages  of  the  world,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  of  all  interested 
testimony,  the  evidence  of  all  persons  who  may  be  supposed 
to  have  a  bias  one  way  or  the  other.  It  is  a  rule  of  the 
Common  Law,  that  "  the  power  of  giving  testimony  in  their 
own  cause  is  taken  away  from  all  persons,"  This  rule  is 
founded,  not  solely  in  the  consideration  of  interest,  but  pai'tly 
in  the  desire  of  avoiding  the  multiplication  of  temptations  to 
perjury.  Evidence  is  trustworthy,  as  a  general  thing,  in 
proportion  to  the  absence  in  the  minds  of  the  witnesses  of 
all  bias  resulting  from  relationship,  party  interest,  or  pecuni- 
ary advantage.  In  this  particular,  the  most  conscientious 
individuals  are  not  trusted.  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  in 
the  hest  of  men  the  power  of  interest,  or  of  lurking  prejudice, 
or  of  unconscious  tendencies,  is  so  great,  or,  in  other  words, 

VOL.  II.  40 


470  COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HITMAN   DEPRAVITY. 

the  currents  and  ramifications  of  selfishness  are  so  numer- 
ous, as  to  endanger  or  defeat  the  ends  of  justice.  Without 
the  most  vigilant  circumspection,  no  amount  of  sagacity,  no 
degree  of  acquaintance  with  the  subject,  no  reputation  for 
strict  integrity,  will  counterbalance  this  known  and  presup- 
posed vicious  tendency.  And  this  is  only  one  instance  out 
of  many  which  might  be  cited  from  the  same  source,  to 
prove  that  the  moral  corruption  of  man  is  universal,  and 
is  taken  for  granted  in  every  department  of  practical  life, 
even  by  multitudes  who  theoretically  deny  it.  Were  men 
generally  virtuous,  were  they  governed  in  any  good  degree 
by  disinterested  benevolence,  they  would  speak  the  truth, 
without  an  oath  or  with  it,  in  secret  or  before  their  fellow- 
men,  whether  it  made  for  their  own  interest  or  against  it, 
whether  a  human  tribunal  took  cognizance  of  it  or  not. 
Were  they  by  personal  infirmity  or  bad  example  exposed 
to  bias  or  prejudice,  they  would  set  a  tenfold  watch  on  this 
vulnerable  point,  and  choose  to  err,  if  at  all,  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  themselves  or  their  party. 

Such  appear  to  be  some  of  the  presumptive  arguments, 
or  corroborating  circumstances,  for  the  truth  of  a  doctrine, 
which  the  Scriptures  so  abundantly  teach,  and  all  human 
experience  confirms. 

The  Apostle  declares,  that  in  the  great  day  of  judgment 
the  whole  world  shall  stand  guilty  before  God.  This  sen- 
tence of  self-condemnation  might  be  anticipated.  It  does 
not  require  the  blaze  of  that  supernatural  light  to  reveal  the 
truth.  The  sentence  is  antedated  in  a  thousand  volumes, 
implied  in  the  decisions  of  innumerable  earthly  tribunals, 
tacitly  or  openly  acted  upon  in  all  the  departments  of  life. 
That  man  is  depraved  and  is  worthy  of  condemnation,  and 
that  lie  openly  confesses  or  really  implies  it,  in  relation  to  all 


COLLATERAL    SIGNS    OF    HUMAN    DEPRAVITY.  471 

Other  men,  is  testified  to  by  the  individual  consciousness ; 
it  is  written  in  letters  of  blood  on  all  history,  and  is^con- 
stantly  confirmed  in  the  most  convincing  manner  by  unde- 
signed and  circumstantial  proof. 

Here  we  perceive  the  inestimable  value  of  the  Christian 
system.  This  system  lays  the  axe  at  the  root.  It  begins 
by  breaking  up  the  selfishness  of  our  nature.  It  declares 
an  exterminating  war  against  that  love  of  self  which  is  the 
germ  of  all  other  vice.  Philanthropy  is  its  watchword,  a 
world-wide  compassion  is  the  spirit  which  it  breathes,  un- 
merited crowns  of  glory  are  the  reward  which  it  offers. 

More  than  this,  it  has  precepts  of  the  most  definite  and 
discriminating  character  ;  rules  and  provisions  most  per- 
fectly fitted  to  meet  all  the  Protean  shapes  and  disguises 
under  which  selfishness  hides  itself.  One  fruit  of  a  long 
and  profound  study  of  the  Gospel  is  to  convince  us,  not  only 
of  the  subtle  and  manifold  forms  in  which  a  sinful  heart, 
deceitful  above  all  things,  may  impose  upon  us,  but  of  the 
wonderful  adaptation  of  particular  precepts  to  the  specific 
types  of  this  moral  disease,  tracking  it  in  all  its  symptoms, 
and  administering  the  antidote  at  the  very  point  where  it 
will  be  most  efficacious. 

But  more  than  this  ;  it  reveals  a  Saviour  who  was  love 
embodied  ;  who  furnished  an  ideal  higher  than  the  human 
imagination  could  ever  conceive,  of  disinterested  love,  good- 
will incarnate  ;  a  character  complete  in  all  its  parts,  yet 
individual  and  attractive  in  all  its  shades  and  particulars. 
It  is  by  serious  and  profound  meditation  on  the  life  and  love 
of  Jesus,  by  musing  on  this  great  example,  living  and  dying 
for  others,  by  copying  largely  of  his  spirit,  that  we  shall 
become  assimilated  to  Him  who  is  fairer  than  the  children 
of  men,  and  shall  gain  a  perfect  and  final  triumph  over  all 
the  powers  of  evil  by  which  we  are  beset. 


INFLUENCE  OF  EMINENT  PIETY  ON  THE 
INTELLECTUAL  POWERS.* 


There  is  an  impression  somewhat  general,  even  at  the 
present  day,  that  a  vigorous  and  highly  cultivated  intellect 
is  not  consistent  vi'ith  distinguished  holiness ;  and  that  those 
who  would  live  in  the  clearest  sunshine  of  communion  with 
God  must  withdraw  from  the  bleak  atmosphere  of  human 
science.  We  are  warned  very  frequently  against  the  doc- 
trine of  the  sufficiency  of  reason,  and  earnestly  reminded  of 
the  importance  of  simplicity  in  the  consideration  of  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel.  That  there  are  melancholy  examples  of  an 
unhumbled  and  boastful  spirit  among  the  students  of  Reve- 
lation, we  do  not  deny.  It  must  be  acknowledged,  that 
pride  and  presumption  often  usurp  the  place  of  humility 
and  reverence. 

But  is  there  not  another  tendency  equally  deplorable  .'* 
Is  there  not  an  opposite  extreme,  which  is  no  less  injurious  .'' 
Are  we  not  apt  to  dissociate  the  intellect  from  the  heart,  to 
array  knowledge  and  piety  against  each  other,  to  exalt  the 
feelings  at  the  expense  of  the  judgment,  and  to  create  the 

*  This  Essay  was  originally  published  in  the  Christian  Review, 
Vol.  V.  pp.  1-22. 


INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY.  473 

impression  extensively,  that  eminent  attainments  in  knowl- 
edge and  grace  are  incompatible  ? 

Piety,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  not  an  isolated  and  bar- 
ren principle  ;  it  is  not  a  sickly  plant  growing  under  the 
shadow  of  the  understanding.  It  is  rather  the  rain  and  the 
light  from  which  the  intellect  derives  nourishment  and 
strength.  Those  who  assert  or  imagine,  that  a  weak  and 
unfurnished  mind  is  the  most  genial  soil  for  piety,  affirm 
that  of  which  they  are  ignorant,  and  slander  that  which  they 
cannot  comprehend. 

It  is  our  object,  in  the  present  Essay,  to  maintain  the 
position,  that  eminent  piety  has  an  important  and  salutary 
influence  on  the  mental  powers ;  that  soundness  of  the  un- 
derstanding is  promoted  by  goodness  of  the  heart ;  or,  in 
other  words,  that  the  performance  of  duty  towards  God  con- 
tributes to  the  improvement  and  expansion  of  the  mind. 

1.  The  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  on  this  point  is  clear 
and  decisive.  They  uniformly  connect  holiness  with  knowl- 
edge, both  in  their  historical  facts  and  preceptive  instruc- 
tions. Why  did  God  select  Moses  to  be  the  lawgiver  and 
guide  of  his  people  during  their  forty  years'  pilgrimage  ? 
Why  did  he  confer  on  one  man,  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
powers  almost  absolute  ?  Not  because  the  Levite  was  slow 
of  speech  ;  not  because  he  was  a  meek  man,  any  further 
than  his  meekness  was  a  qualification  for  his  work.  Moses 
was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  as  well  as 
in  that  practical  experience  which  he  had  acquired  in  his 
long  sojourn  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  A  man  was  de- 
manded for  the  service,  of  great  powers  of  mind,  ready  to 
meet  emergencies,  whose  acknowledged  talents  would  over- 
awe the  fractious  multitude,  whose  clear  intellect,  cooper- 
ating with  the  Divine  teaching,  could  frame  a  wise  system 
40* 


474  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

of  laws,  and  also  enable  him  to  act  as  the  only  historian  of 
the  world  for  almost  one  half  of  its  duration  thus  far.  God 
did  not  alight  upon  Moses  by  accident.  He  selected  him 
as  probably  the  only  man  in  the  nation  competent  to  the 
work.  Again,  why  were  the  principal  writers  of  the  Old 
Testament  taken  from  the  most  intelligent  men  of  their 
times,  some  of  them  priests,  who  were  required  to  be  edu- 
cated ?  Moses,  David,  Solomon,  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel, 
the  writer  of  the  book  of  Job,  considered  merely  in  an  intel- 
lectual point  of  view,  would  have  been  the  glory  of  any 
age. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  Christ  chose  illiterate  fishermen 
to  be  the  principal  promulgators  of  his  religion.  But  does 
this  imply  that  they  were  men  of  feeble  powers  of  intellect  } 
Was  Luke  deficient  in  ability  to  investigate  his  subject,  and 
present  it  in  an  appropriate  and  original  style .''  Was  not 
James  (the  author  of  the  Epistle)  a  very  close  observer  of 
men,  and  has  he  not  a  very  characteristic  manner  ?  Illit- 
erate most  of  them  were,  in  the  Jewish  sense  of  the  term. 
They  were  not  profound  doctors  of  the  law  ;  they  were  not 
learned  Gamaliels  in  the  traditions  of  the  elders ;  but  they 
were  men  of  sound  sense,  and,  in  one  respect,  well  edu- 
cated, for  who  ever  equalled  their  teacher .?  He  that  la- 
bored more  than  they  all,  who  wrote  the  greater  part  of 
the  doctrinal  compositions  of  the  New  Testament,  —  why 
was  he  selected  for  his  extraordinary  mission  ?  Doubtless 
becaijse  God  is  wise  in  fitting  means  to  ends.  He  chose  to 
convert  a  man  of  a  most  strongly  marked  character,  in  order 
to  do  a  strongly  marked  work.  He  could  have  turned  one 
of  the  stones  in  the  streets  of  Tarsus  into  a  foreign  mission- 
ary. He  could  have  inspired  the  feeblest  intellect  in  Judea  to 
wield  the  eloquence  of  an  angel.     But  he  preferred  to  take 


ON   THE   INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  475 

Apollos,  who  had  been  well  instructed  in  the  preparatory  dis- 
pensation of  John,  and  who  could  reason  mightily  with  the 
Jews.  It  is  in  uniform  accordance  with  God's  arrangement 
to  do  nothing  unnecessary  ;  he  employs  and  strengthens 
existing  instrumentalities,  rather  than  creates  new  ones. 

The  wise  and  noble,  whom  Paul  mentions  as  having 
been  cast  off  by  the  Almighty,  were  wise  in  their  own  con- 
ceit. He  has  particular  reference,  probably,  to  the  sophists, 
who  were  numerous,  at  that  time,  in  the  Grecian  cities,  and 
who  were  as  destitute  of  common  sense  and  of  true  knowl- 
edge as  they  could  well  be  ;  men  who  possessed  hardly 
any  thing  but  acuteness,  or  a  wire-drawn  subtilty ;  fine  pro- 
totypes of  the  hair-splitters  and  angelical  doctors  of  a  later 
age.  If  these  sophists  had  entered  the  Church,  they  would 
have  filled  it  with  their  empty  wranglings. 

Instead  of  dissevering  knowledge  from  religion,  the  Bible 
is  fraught  with  instructions  to  the  contrary.  "  Give  me  un- 
derstanding, and  I  shall  observe  thy  law  with  my  whole 
heart.  Teach  me  knowledge  and  good  judgment.  O,  how 
love  I  thy  law !  it  is  my  meditation  all  the  day.  The  en- 
trance of  thy  word  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding  to 
the  simple."  Paul  exhorts  his  disciples  to  the  constant  study 
of  the  new  religion,  on  the  ground  that  in  the  mystery  of 
Christ,  which  in  other  ages  was  not  made  known  to '  the 
children  of  men,  there  were  contained  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  He  directs  them  to  strengthen 
themselves  with  might  in  the  iyiner  man,  that  they  may  be 
able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth,  and 
length,  and  depth,  and  height  of  the  love  of  Jesus.  He  de- 
clares that  every  Christian,  in  proportion  as  he  is  indeed  a 
Christian,  has  received  the  Spirit,  that  searcheth  all  things, 
yea,  even  the  deep  things  of  God.     He  proceeds  further 


476  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

still ;  he  terms  the  doctrines  of  faith,  repentance,  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  and  eternal  judgment,  the  elementary 
lessons,  food  for  babes,  and  reprimands  his  disciples  for  not 
having  advanced  into  the  mysteries  of  their  religion. 

These  passages  have  a  primary  reference,  unquestion- 
ably, to  religious  knowledge,  or  to  the  employment  of  the 
mind  on  religious  subjects.  But  they  cannot  be  considered 
as  excluding  other  kinds  of  knowledge.  They  require  by 
implication,  if  not  directly,  that  degree  of  culture  and  en- 
largement of  the  mental  powers,  which  is  necessary  to  com- 
prehend the  deeper  mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith.  They 
also  imply  that  the  study  of  these  mysteries  must  have  a 
beneficial  effect  on  the  mind.  Else  godliness  would  not 
be  profitable  for  all  things.  One  of  the  principal  things 
would  be  excluded  from  its  benign  influence. 

2.  Eminent  piety  must  exert  a  favorable  effect  on  the 
mind  from  the  nature  of  piety  itself.  True  religion  cannot 
exist  without  a  degree  of  knowledge.  It  cannot  grow 
without  a  corresponding  growth  in  knowledge.  "  It  is  im- 
possible," remarks  a  distinguished  writer,  "  that  the  affec- 
tions should  be  kept  constant  to  an  object  which  gives  no 
employment  to  the  understanding.  The  energies  of  the 
intellect,  increase  of  insight,  and  enlarging  views,  are  ne- 
cessary to  keep  alive  the  substantial  faith  in  the  heart.  They 
are  the  appointed  fuel  to  the  sacred  fire."  *  Instances  there 
are,  indeed,  of  persons  in  lowly  life,  of  uncommon  appar- 
ent spirituality  and  elevation  of  religious  feeling,  who  pos- 
sess but  a  moderate  decree  of  intelligence.  Yet  such  are 
diligent  readers  of  the  Bible,  and  they  are  accustomed  to 
estimate  highly  the  scanty  knowledge  of  secular  subjects 

*  See  Coleridge's  Lay  Sermons. 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  477 

with  which  they  are  favored.  On  the  contrary,  the  indi- 
viduals who  have  wrought  the  greatest  mischief  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  are  those  who  were,  at  first,  regarded  as 
eminently  pious,  that  is,  possessed  of  ardent  emotions  and 
of  burning  zeal,  hut  who  were  accustomed  to  clamor  against 
human  learning,  to  throw  contempt  on  a  properly  trained 
ministry,  and  disparage  religious  truth,  as  distinguished 
from  religious  feeling, 

A  common  definition  of  eminent  piety  is  this:  "An  en- 
tire consecration  to  God,  a  devotement  of  all  the  faculties 
to  his  service."  Yet  many  Christians  would  seem  to  take 
the  faculties  in  their  existing  state,  whatever  that  may  be, 
as  thus  to  be  dedicated.  But  our  Master  requires  whatever 
we  can  be,  as  well  as  what  we  are.  He  demands  the  at- 
tainalle,  as  well  as  the  attainment^  the  possible,  as  well  as 
the  existing.  The  hope,  the  aspiration,  the  strenuous  en- 
deavor, the  fresh  acquisition,  belong  to  him.  Why  has  he 
given  us  the  principle  of  intellectual  curiosity  ?  Most  cer- 
tainly that  he  might  stimulate  us  in  the  path  of  intellectual 
and  religious  knowledge.  If  we  stifle  this  curiosity,  if  we 
bury  it  up,  if  we  have  not  an  enthusiasm  even,  in  the  occu- 
pying of  all  the  talents  with  which  God  has  endued  us, 
then  we  are  not  consecrating  ourselves  to  him.  We  do  not 
give  him  our  best  offerings.  We  withhold  the  freshest 
fruits.  We  present  the  stale  manna  of  yesterday.  The 
great  mass  of  people  in  a  Christian  country  are  placed  in  a 
situation  where  constant  advance  in  knowledge,  more  or 
less,  is  an  indispensable  duty.  But  in  the  degree  that  we 
neglect  or  lightly  esteem  the  cultivation  of  our  intellectual 
powers,  we  are  not  (so  far  as  an  essential  element  is  con- 
cerned) in  the  process  of  attaining  eminent  piety.  We  are 
inclined  to  shut  out  every  thing  of  this  nature  from  the 


478  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

supervision  of  conscience  ;  we  do  not  feel  the  emotion  of 
remorse,  unless  there  be  some  overt  act,  or  some  moral 
delinquency.  Our  powers  of  mind  may  run  utterly  waste, 
and  yet  the  conscience  take  no  cognizance.  We  have  hid 
a  part  of  our  Lord's  money  in  a  napkin. 

The  idea  of  eminent  piety  which  floats  in  the  public 
mind  is  limited  to  a  single  ingredient,  namely,  fervent  emo- 
tion, the  possession,  and  particularly  the  display,  of  strong 
feeling.  We  read  the  diaries  of  distinguished  saints,  and 
we  estimate  their  holiness  according  to  the  number  of  pas- 
sages in  which  rapturous  emotion  is  expressed.  Such  pas- 
sages are  contagious.  In  reading  them,  our  sympathies 
are  excited,  and  so  far  we  are  incapable  of  judging  in  re- 
spect to  the  more  silent  and  unobtrusive  marks  of  eminent 
sanctification.  Doubtless  emotion  is  one  of  the  principal 
constituents  of  true  religion.  Without  a  degree  of  it,  piety, 
of  course,  must  be  wholly  wanting.  Our  spiritual  relations 
are  such  in  their  nature  as  to  awaken  the  deepest  feelings 
of  which  man  is  capable.  A  clear  idea  of  God  must  fill 
the  soul  with  the  profoundest  reverence.  The  love  of 
Jesus  must  stir  every  bosom  which  is  not  colder  than  ice. 
That  man  is  insane,  so  far  as  this  matter  is»concerned,  who 
is  not  pervaded  with  solemn  awe,  in  contemplating  an  eter- 
nal, personal  existence  in  heaven  or  in  hell.  Still,  emo- 
tion is  but  one  of  the  ingredients  of  eminent  spirituality. 
We  have  no  right  to  make  this  the  only  test  of  an  ele- 
vated Christian.  There  are  other  essential  characteristics, 
essential  to  a  high  degree  of  holiness,  if  not  to  its  existence 
in  any  measure.  By  limiting  the  characteristics  of  distin- 
guished piety  to  one  or  two  things,  however  important  these 
may  be,  we  undervalue  the  influence  of  knowledge,  and 
diminish  too  much  the  number  of  eminently  pious  men. 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  479 

We  degrade  from  that  rank  some  individuals  who  are  fully 
entitled  to  it,  men  of  uncommon  intellectual  endowments 
and  acquisitions,  and  whose  piety  may  be  regarded  with 
suspicion  because  it  has  not  all  the  fervency  which  men  of 
smaller  intellectual  powers  might  have  exhibited.  Some  of 
the  hidden  or  less  notorious  qualities  of  piety,  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  overlook,  are  among  the  most  important 
in  their  bearing  on  the  mental  faculties.  It  may  be  perti- 
nent, therefore,  briefly  to  advert  to  them. 

One  of  these  qualities  might  be  termed  humanity,  the 
possession  of  humane  sentiments,  tenderness,  generosity, 
disinterestedness.  The  Apostle  Peter  refers  to  it,  when  he 
enjoins  on  his  disciples  to  be  pitiful,  to  be  courteous.  We 
too  often  see  individuals  who  make  loud  and  boastful  profes- 
sions of  piety,  who  are,  notwithstanding,  hard-hearted  ;  gen- 
erous, possibly,  in  their  conduct  towards  some  persons,  mo- 
rose or  neglectful  in  relation  to  others  ;  earnest  in  their 
proffers  of  friendship,  deficient  in  real  kindness  ;  liberal  in 
their  contributions  towards  the  general  spread  of  the  Gospel, 
but  whose  benevolence  is  not  of  good  report  in  their  own 
neighborhood.*  That  tendency  in  our  fallen  nature  which 
induces  us  to  place  reliance  on  a  doctrinal  creed,  or  on  a 
zealous  temperament,  in  the  neglect  of  humane  sentiments 
and  of  a  generous  disposition,  is  the  reason  why  the  Apos- 
tles so  earnestly  admonish  their  disciples  on  the  subject. 

Nearly  allied  to  this  disposition,  and  perhaps  a  result  of 
it,  is  candor  in  judgment,  —  a  habit  of  putting  a  charitable 
construction  upon  the  motives  of  our  fellow-men  ;  the  ab- 

*  We  have  a  well-authenticated  statement  respecting  an  orthodox 
professor  of  Christianity,  who  declined  to  assist  a  neighbor's  family 
involved  in  distress,  on  the  ground  of  the  heterodoxy  of  a  member  of 
that  family. 


480  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

sence  of  bigotry  and  exclusiveness  ;  a  resolute  determina- 
tion to  judge  of  books,  of  systems  of  knowledge,  and  of  men, 
with  discriminating  kindness.  No  one  ought  to  be  consid- 
ered as  eminently  pious,  who  is  rash  and  overbearing  in  his 
moral  or  literary  judgments.  If  his  piety  does  not  enter 
into  and  control  these  matters,  it  is  one-sided  and  partial. 
We  are  not  required,  indeed,  to  remain  ignorant  of  the  defi- 
ciencies of  our  neighbors  and  friends  ;  but  we  are  required 
to  throw  the  mantle  of  charity  over  their  faults,  and  to 
maintain,  in  all  our  intercourse  with  them,  the  character  of 
Christian  gentlemen.  Now  these  illiberal  judgments  and 
uncourteous  feelings  are  intimately  connected  with  a  nar- 
row understanding  and  with  confined  intellectual  opinions. 
The  natural  tendency  of  enlarged  views  and  of  extensive 
and  patient  reading,  is  to  break  down  the  barriers  of  party, 
and  of  a  selfish  bigotry,  while  it  refines  and  ennobles  the  soul. 

Distinguished  piety  is  conscientious.  It  implies  an  habit- 
ual performance  of  the  smaller  duties  of  life  ;  a  careful 
attention  to  the  thousand  minute  occurrences  of  every  day. 
It  implies  a  wakeful  moral  sensibility,  a  delicate  spiritual 
perception,  an  instinctive  shrinking  from  the  remotest  con- 
tact with  evil.  Some  individuals,  who  have  been  regarded 
as  eminently  pious,  appear  to  have  been  veiy  imperfectly 
controlled  by  their  conscience.  It  took  cognizance  of  the 
presumptuous  sin.  It  laid  its  authority  on  the  outbreaking 
enormity.  But  it  slept  over  unnumbered  nameless  delin- 
quencies. It  did  not  utter  its  warning  in  the  incipient  stages 
of  transgression.  In  such  cases  the  conscience  is  not  en- 
lightened by  knowledge.  It  is  in  a  state  of  comparative 
eclipse. 

In  forming  an  estimate  of  what  constitutes  eminent  piety, 
we  sometimes  err  in  not  making  sufficient  allowance  for 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  481 

diversities  of  natural  character.  We  erect  a  standard,  and 
determine  that  all  men  shall  conform  to  it.  We  fabricate 
one  suit  of  armor,  and  compel  David  and  Saul  alike  to  wear 
it.  But  there  are  innocent  temperaments,  diverse  in  dif- 
ferent individuals,  all  of  which  we  would  extinguish.  If  we 
had  our  will,  there  would  be  one  dull,  tasteless  uniformity  in 
the  character  of  our  piety,  eminent  though  it  might  be.  But 
distinguished  holiness  is  consistent  with  the  countless  varie- 
ties of  innocent  natural  temperament.  That  development 
of  thought  and  feeling  which  in  one  man  would  be  at  war 
with  his  religious  consistency,  would  be  perfectly  in  unison 
with  it  in  another,  because  it  would  be  in  accordance  with 
the  man  and  his  general  spirit. 

Richard  Baxter  somewhere  remarks,  that  at  one  period 
he  entertained  doubts  in  relation  to  the  experimental  char- 
acter of  the  piety  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  inasmuch  as  the 
judge  was  inclined,  in  his  almost  daily  conversation  with 
Baxter,  to  dwell  upon  abstract  truth,  or  on  speculative  opin- 
ion, with  scarcely  an  allusion  to  personal,  religious  feeling. 
Baxter  was  subsequently  convinced,  however,  that  he  had 
formed  an  erroneous  judgment.  It  would  have  been  incon- 
gruous in  Hale  to  have  copied  the  ardent  manner  of  Baxter. 
His  unimpeachable  integrity  as  a  judge,  his  conscientious 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  day,  were  better  proofs  of  emi- 
nent piety  than  any  conversational  powers  could  have  been. 
Hale  kept  himself  unspotted  from  the  world  in  the  court 
of  Charles  II.  Could  Baxter,  or  any  other  man,  have  done 
more  .'' 

3.  The  beneficial  effects  of  piety  on  the  human  mind 
may  be  argued  from  facts.  It  has  been  contended,  indeed, 
that  distinguished  holiness  is  of  no  importance  to  the  mind, 

VOL.    II.  41 


482  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT   PIETY 

or  is  even  positively  injurious,  from  the  circumstance  that 
the  intellectual  powers  have  been  cultivated  in  a  high  de- 
gree by  many  individuals  who  did  not  possess  eminent 
piety,  or,  indeed,  any  piety  whatever.  Their  interest  in 
literary  studies,  it  is  said,  was  not  distracted  by  religious 
duties.  Their  time  was  not  wasted  by  the  agitating,  never- 
ceasing  conflict  between  the  natural  inclinations  and  the 
renewed  nature,  —  a  conflict  of  which  Christians  complain 
so  much.  They  could  give  an  undivided  attention  to  the 
culture  of  the  intellect. 

Some  of  these  allegations  cannot,  of  course,  be  denied. 
The  mind  may  be  disciplined  by  him  who  has  no  fear  of 
God  before  his  eyes,  just  in  the  same  way  that  riches  may 
be  acquired  by  one  who  never  acknowledges  his  depend- 
ence on  an  overruling  Providence.  A  politician  may  have 
an  insatiable  desire  to  attain  a  place  of  honor.  In  order  to 
accomplish  his  object,  he  must  lay  in  large  intellectual 
treasures.  The  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich.  The 
hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  learned  also.  It  is  possible 
that  in  some  cases  there  may  be  such  a  total  slumber  of  the 
moral  faculty,  that  the  intellect  will  proceed  undisturbed  in 
its  movements,  and  may  thus  reach  a  more  extraordinary 
growth  when  the  affections  are  withered  or  scorched,  just  as 
the  soil  which  has  been  burned  over  may  send  up  a  quicker 
and  more  luxuriant  vegetation. 

There  are  several  considerations,  however,  which  de- 
serve attention  before  we  conclude  that  eminent  piety  would 
have  no  influence  in  the  case.  It  has  never  been  proved 
that  those  distinguished  writers,  who  are  unfriendly  to  Chris- 
tianity, might  not  have  been  more  distinguished,  if  they  had 
felt  the  power  of  the  religion  which  they  opposed.  If  Gib- 
bon had  had  an  experimental  acquaintance  with  Christianity, 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  483 

would  he  not  have  better  understood  various  portions  of  the 
historical  ground  over  which  he  travelled  ?  Are  not  some 
of  his  prominent  and  acknowledged  defects  owing  to  his 
prejudices  on  this  subject  ?  Would  David  Hume  have  been 
a  less  acute  metaphysician,  had  he  possessed  the  spirit  of 
Robert  Boyle  ?  Christianity  makes  no  war  on  those  mental 
characteristics  for  which  Hume  was  celebrated.  It  gives 
free  passage  to  the  sharpest  intellect,  while  it  would  sup- 
press that  dishonesty,  that  love  of  entangling  sophistry, 
which  were  a  real  injury  to  Hume's  mind,  and  always  will 
be  to  his  reputation.  His  works  are  deficient  in  dignity. 
They  betray  many  marks  of  having  come  from  a  laughing 
philosopher,  to  whom  life  was  a  pleasant  riddle,  and  eter- 
nity an  ingenious  phantom.  Faith  in  the  realities  of  a  fu- 
ture state  would  have  imparted  a  grandeur  to  Hume's  spec- 
ulations, which  would  have  been  of  immense  benefit  to  them 
in  a  mere  literary  point  of  view.  He  would  also  have  had 
some  sympathy  for  his  fellow-men,  some  interest  in  the 
well-being  of  his  race.  Religion  would  have  divested  him 
of  that  freezing  indifference  to  the  struggles  of  humanity 
which  so  strongly  marks  the  pages  of  his  great  history. 

Again,  some  men  of  the  most  hopeful  intellect  have  felt 
it  to  be  their  duty  to  employ  their  whole  time  in  practical 
exertions  for  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-men.  Theys  might 
have  become  rich  in  all  literary  acquisitions,  if  they  had  not 
chosen  to  go  about  doing  good.  Such  men  as  Buchanan, 
Martyn,  and  Charles  Wolfe  might  have  acquired  a  reputa- 
tion in  certain  departments  of  knowledge  as  notorious  as 
that  of  the  apostles  of  infidelity.  These  last  were  subject  to 
no  such  drawback.  They  were  never  guilty  of  a  too  lavish 
expenditure  of  beneficent  action. 

Furthermore,  the  few  individuals  on  whom  the  richest 


484  INFLUENCE    OF   EMINENT    PIETY 

gifts  of  intellect  have  been  bestowed,  and  who  have  toiled 
most  earnestly  in  their  improvement,  in  other  words,  the 
great  lights  of  our  race,  Bacon,  Newton,  Kepler,  Coper- 
nicus, Galileo,  Pascal,  Boyle,  who  possessed  not  merely  a 
derived  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature  which  others  had 
disclosed,  but  who  themselves  discovered  the  laws,  —  all 
these  were  religious  men.  Some  of  them,  as  Kepler,  Boyle, 
and  Pascal,  were  distinguished  for  the  strength  and  eleva- 
tion of  their  piety.*  The  insight  into  the  structure  of  the 
universe  which  they  obtained  was  a  means  of  grace.  In- 
tellect and  piety  mutually  and  beneficially  acted  and  reacted. 
In  relation  to  other  great,  but,  in  comparison  with  the  last 
named,  inferior  ornaments  of  science,  who  were  unfriendly 
to  Christianity,  it  seems  to  have  been  satisfactorily  shown,  t 
that  they  were  mere  logicians  or  mathematicians,  of  deduc- 
tive rather  than  of  inductive  habits,  who  rested  in  the  laws 
of  the  universe  as  the  ultimate  and  all-sufficient  principles, 
who  thrust  in,  as  the  poet  says,  some  mechanic  cause  in  the 
place  of  God,  instead  of  lifting  themselves  to  the  source  of 

*  Decided  indications  of  piety  are  found  in  the  letters  and  published 
treatises  of  Galileo.  Religious  reflections  occur  even  in  the  mathemat- 
ical writings  of  Copernicus.  Kepler  was  a  man  of  ardent  piety.  "  This 
beautiful  system  of  sun,  planets,  and  comets,"  remarks  Newton,  "  could 
have  its  origin  in  no  other  way  than  by  the  purpose  and  command  of 
an  intelligent  and  powerful  Being.  He  governs  all  things,  not  as  the 
Boul  of  the  world,  but  as  the  Lord  of  the  universe."  The  eminent  piety 
of  Pascal  is  well  known.  Many  of  Boyle's  Dissertations  convey  trains 
of  thought  and  reasoning  which  have  never  been  surpassed  for  their  com- 
bination of  judicious  sobriety  in  not  pressing  his  arguments  too  far,  with 
fervent  devotion  in  his  conceptions  of  the  Divine  nature.  See  his  Essay 
entitled  "  The  High  Veneration  Man's  Intellect  owes  to  God."  — 
WheweWs  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  235. 

t  Whewell,  p.  244. 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  485 

all  laws  and  principles.  If  the  mathematical  philosopher 
dwells  in  his  own  bright  land  of  deductive  reasoning,  till  he 
turns  with  disgust  from  all  the  speculations  necessarily  less 
clear  and  conclusive,  in  which  his  imagination,  his  practical 
faculties,  his  moral  sense,  his  capacity  of  religious  hope  and 
belief,  are  to  be  called  into  action,  he  becomes,  more  than 
common  men,  liable  to  miss  the  road  to  truths  of  the  highest 
value.*  So  far  their  views  are  narrowed,  and  they  become 
incapable  of  judging  of  moral  evidence.  Nothing,  however, 
is  gained  to  the  cause  of  Christianity  by  depreciating  such 
men,  by  branding  them  as  sciolists  or  superficial  reasoners. 
They  were  great  men  without  Christianity.  But  if  they  had 
come  directly  and  fully  under  its  influence,  they  would  have 
been  greater  still.  Religion  is  not  an  enemy  to  mathemat- 
ics ;  but  she  is  an  enemy  to  all  prejudice,  to  every  exclu- 
sive tendency,  to  every  thing  which  would  confine  the  mind 
to  one  mode  of  development,  at  the  expense  of  its  general 
and  symmetrical  advancement. 

*  Bonaparte  observed  of  Laplace,  when  he  was  called  to  a  public 
office  of  considerable  importance,  that  he  did  not  discharge  it  in  so 
judicious  and  clear-sighted  a  manner  as  his  high  intellectual  fame  might 
lead  most  men  to  expect.  "  He  sought  subtilties  in  every  subject,  and 
carried  into  his  official  employments  the  spirit  of  the  method  of  infi- 
nitely small  quantities."  A  very  respectable  mathematician  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  said  that  it  was  the  "  business  of  the  Sorbonne 
to  discuss ;  of  the  Pope  to  decide  ;  and  of  the  mathematician  to  go  to 
heaven  in  a  perpendicular  line."  Dugald  Stewart,  in  quoting  this  last 
anecdote,  remarks,  that  while  mathematical  studies  exei'cise  the  faculty 
of  reasoning  or  deduction,  they  give  no  employment  to  the  other  pow- 
ers of  the  understanding  concerned  in  the  investigation  of  truth.  The 
atheism  and  materialism  professed  by  some  of  the  Trench  mathemati- 
cians, is  to  be  ascribed,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Stewart,  to  a  credulity  as 
blind  as  that  of  their  predecessors  who  trusted  in  the  dogmas  of  an  in- 
fallible Church.  — /Stewart,  Vol.  III.  p.  193. 
41* 


4S6  INFLUENCE    OF   EMINENT    PIETY 

While,  therefore,  it  is  not  denied  that  the  human  mind 
is  cultivated  in  a  high  degree,  without,  or  even  in  opposi- 
tion to,  Christianity,  still  it  can  be  maintained  by  facts,  that 
the  influence  of  this  religion  is  decidedly  favorable  upon 
the  intellect  directly.  All  minds  in  the  highest  class,  the 
discoverers,  have  gladly  acknowledged  its  power.  Nearly 
all  the  original  geniuses  in  another  department,  that  of  im- 
agination, have  likewise  borne  the  same  testimony.  Its 
witnesses  in  every  other  field  of  human  knowledge  rise  up* 
by  thousands.*  The  argument,  so  far  as  any  can  be  drawn 
from  this  source,  is  mainly  on  the  side  of  Christianity. 

4.  The  eminent  Christian,  other  things  being  equal,  is 
the  most  diligent  student  of  the  works  and  of  the  word  of 
God.  Such  study  is  well  fitted  to  enlarge  and  liberalize 
the  mind.  We  are  placed  in  a  creation  adapted  to  awaken 
the  deepest  interest.     The  works  of  God  are  marvellous  ; 

*  Thus  we  may  add,  that  some  of  the  ablest  historians,  antiquarians, 
and  linguists,  now  living  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  are  firm  believers 
in  Bivine  revelation.  "We  may  mention  Professor  Charles  Kitter,  of 
Berlin,  probably  the  first  geographical  writer  of  the  present  or  of  any 
age,  who  is  no  less  remarkable  for  his  unaff'ected  piety  than  for  his 
profound  and  various  learning.  The  late  Baron  De  Sacy,  the  acknowl- 
edged head  of  Oriental  scholars,  was  not  ashamed,  in  the  midst  of  an 
evil  and  atheistic  generation,  to  profess  his  cordial  trust  in  the  Saviour 
of  the  world.  "  If  my  conduct,"  he  says,  "  has  not  always  been,  as  I 
humbly  acknowledge,  conformable  to  the  sacred  rules  which  my  faith 
enjoins,  those  faults  have  never  been  with  me  the  effect  of  any  doubt 
of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  or  of  its  divine  origin.  I  firmly 
trust  that  they  will  be  forgiven  me,  through  the  mercy  of  my  Heavenly 
Father,  in  virtue  of  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  my  Saviour,  not  put- 
ting my  confidence  in  any  merit  of  my  own,  and  confessing  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart,  that  in  myself  I  am  nothing  but  weakness,  miseiy, 
and  wretchedness."  —  Asiatic  Journal. 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  487 

they  are  sought  out  by  all  who  have  pleasure  therein.  And 
who  can  refrain  from  having  this  pleasure  }  Who  can  be 
an  indifferent  spectator,  amid  the  changes  which  are  going 
on  around  him  ^  Instead  of  wonder  that  some  men  are 
willing  to  toil  a  life  long  in  the  study  of  the  works  of  God, 
the  wonder  is  that  all  men  are  not  captivated  with  the  pur- 
suit. These  studies  are  called  the  natural  sciences ;  they 
are  rather  divine  sciences  ;  they  are  fitted  to  move  the  mind 
of  man  to  its  lowest  depths.  Whoever  hath  an  ear  may 
hear.  The  dull  rock  has  a  voice  ;  the  dry  leaf  has  a  sound  ; 
the  shell  on  the  ocean's  shore  is  not  dumb.  It  is  made 
according  to  certain  laws.  It  fulfils  its  destiny  with  un- 
erring precision.  We  may  be  lost  in  general  admiration 
while  gazing  on  it ;  or  we  may  scientifically  analyze  it  as  a 
piece  of  consummate  art.  Now  the  earth  is  full  of  such 
objects.  The  common  Christian  may  become  acquainted 
with  them,  and  through  them  adore  their  Creator.  The 
Christian  scholar  will  find  in  these  objects  inexhaustible 
themes  for  delightful  contemplation.  God  invites  him,  and 
a  thousand  voices  from  his  works  reiterate  the  invitation. 
The  doors  of  universal  nature  are  before  him.  Has  he  not 
a  key  in  his  own  mind  to  unlock  them  all  }  No  assignable 
limit  can  be  set  to  the  material  universe.  Can  any  assign- 
able limit  be  placed  on  the  powers  of  the  contemplating 
agent .?  Again,  the  Christian  has  a  large  accession  to  the 
objects  of  his  knowledge  in  the  Bible.  That  which  is  indis- 
pensably necessaiy  to  salvation  is  simple,  and  easily  ac- 
quired. But  revelation  does  not  stop  here.  It  awakens 
the  curiosity  of  man  to  the  highest  degree  by  what  it  does 
not  disclose.  It  touches  on  themes  which  it  does  not  exhibit 
in  full.  It  necessarily  glances  at  topics  which  are  beyond 
mortal  comprehension.     In  describing  what  is  known,  or 


488  INFLUENCE    OF   EMINENT   PIETY 

what  may  be  known,  it  alludes  to  topics  which  are  neither 
discovered  nor  discoverable.  In  portraying  the  facts  which 
are  necessary  for  man,  it  does  not  absolutely  conceal  those 
which  are  not  necessary.  There  are  fragments  of  truth, 
gleams  of  light,  half-revealed  thoughts,  which  are  precisely 
fitted  to  awaken  our  interest  because  of  the  very  mystery 
in  which  they  are  involved.  While  engaged  in  such  sub- 
jects, will  not  the  mind  of  the  investigator  be  strengthened  } 
Will  not  the  growth  of  his  intellectual  faculties  correspond 
to  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  themes  on  which  they 
are  habitually  occupied .? 

5.  The  powers  of  the  mind,  in  order  to  their  complete 
development,  need  to  be  under  strict  control.  The  eminent 
Christian  will  be  more  likely  than  other  persons  to  maintain 
this  discipline.  We  will  adduce  one  or  two  illustrations  of 
the  remark. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  connection  between  our  thoughts 
aiid  feelings.  There  is  an  accidental,  fortuitous  succession 
of  ideas,  connected  together  only  by  extraneous  and  unim- 
portant circumstances  of  resemblance  or  juxtaposition  in 
time  or  place.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  habits  of 
mind  have  been  formed  and  settled  by  exercise  and  appli- 
cation, they  displace  and  supersede,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
law  of  casual  association.*  The  accidental  course  of  ideas 
is  no  longer  followed,  but  their  real  and  rational  connection 
one  with  another  is  maintained.  Now  the  eminently  pious 
man  does  not  allow  his  mind  to  run  in  eveiy  channel  to 
which  a  wayward  fancy  may  lead.  His  religious  habits 
have  enabled  him  to  exercise  control,  to  a  greater  or  less 

*  See  Isaac  Taylor's  Elements  of  Thought. 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  489 

degree,  over  his  trains  of  thought.  There  is  some  rationahty 
and  closeness  in  the  connections  which  have  been  formed 
in  his  mind.  He  is  accustomed  to  read  the  Bible  with 
fixed  attention,  and  to  meditate  on  the  most  important  truths 
regularly  and  thoroughly.  Will  his  intellectual  powers  re- 
ceive no  benefit  in  the  process  ?  Will  he  not  learn  to  think 
of  every  subject  according  to  its  just  and  proper  relations  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  will  not  the  ideas  which  follow  in  his 
mind  be  successively  those  which  in  fact  and  nature  are 
most  nearly  related  ? 

Again,  the  imagination  is  a  power  which  is  subject  to 
irregular  and  unhealthful  action.  It  is  given  us  for  wise  and 
beneficent  purposes.  We  are  enabled  by  it  to  lift  our  hearts 
above  the  vanities  of  this  earthly  state.  Its  cherished  home 
is  among  the  sublime  realities  of  the  future.  It  helps  to 
support  the  soul  in  its  wearisome  progress  through  the  val- 
ley of  the  shadow  of  death.  It  clothes  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  in  an  impressive  and  attractive  form.  One  of 
its  offices  is  to  embody  the  intimations  of  immortality  which 
are  within  us  and  around  us.  It  imparts  dignity  to  the  mean- 
est earthly  pursuit,  connecting  it  with  the  recompense  of 
rewards.  But  this  faculty  is  extremely  liable  to  derange- 
ment. It  may  become  disproportionate,  and  so  unhealthful 
in  its  influence.  It  may  retard,  rather  than  animate,  the 
progress  of  the  Christian  traveller.  By  its  perversions  it 
may  render  him  gloomy  or  discontented.  The  eminent 
Christian  will,  however,  resist  this  temptation.  He  will  re- 
duce this  power,  so  mighty  for  good  or  for  ill,  into  subjec- 
tion, and  teach  it  to  do,  unrepiningly,  its  appropriate  work. 
Thus,  while  the  themes  of  his  habitual  contemplation  fur- 
nish the  best  nutriment  for  a  vigorous  and  chastened  imagi- 
nation, a  safeguard  against  its  inordinate  or  irregular  ac- 


\ 

490  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

tion  will  be  found  in  the  supi'emacy  of  his  conscience,  and 
in  those  fixed  moral  habits  without  which  distinguished 
holiness  cannot  exist. 

6.  The  eminently  pious  man  has  before  his  mind,  uni- 
formly, an  illustrious  example  of  intellectual  and  moral 
excellence  in  Jesus  Christ.  This  example  is  the  mark  of 
his  calling.  It  is  the  summit  ofhis  wishes  and  aims.  It  is 
the  goal  to  which  all  his  exertions  tend.  The  spiritual 
etfect  of  placing  such  an  object  before  one  cannot  but  be 
obvious.  It  must  exert  an  ennobling  and  purifying  influence 
on  the  affections  and  the  moral  nature.  But  its  bearing  on 
the  intellectual  powers  is  not  less  striking.  This  may  be 
illustrated  in  two  ways. 

First,  all  the  great  masters  in  the  arts  and  sciences  have 
ever  had  an  ideal  of  excellence,  —  a  conception,  perhaps 
dim,  of  something  absolutely  perfect,  —  a  form  of  match- 
less beauty  floating  before  their  imagination,  towards  which 
they  could  not  help  but  strive,  though  conscious  that  they 
should  never  grasp  it.  This  was  the  picture  before  the 
minds  of  the  orators  of  antiquity  ;  the  aliquid  immensum 
infinitwnque ;  the  good,  the  true,  the  beautiful,  which  be- 
longs not  to  the  Platonic  philosophy  alone,  but  to  every  phi- 
losophy in  which  there  is  any  truth.  One  of  the  most 
eminent  pulpit  orators  of  the  present  age  remarked,  that  he 
was  constantly  tormented  with  the  desire  of  writing  better 
than  he  could.  This  image  may  be  indistinct.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  it  should  be  clearly  apprehended,  in  all  its 
proportions,  in  order  that  it  should  exert  an  influence.  Some 
truths  which  are  dimly  conceived,  may  be  any  thing  but 
impotent.  For  example,  there  is  a  general  expectation  in 
the  irreligious  community  of  a  future  judgment.     Its  defi- 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS,  491 

nite  purport  is  not  clearly  seen.  But  in  the  way  of  restraint 
and  alarm,  its  influence  cannot  be  measured.  Thus,  also, 
when  the  human  soul  is  first  awakened  from  its  death  of  tres- 
passes and  sins,  it  may  have  no  vivid  apprehension  of  the 
glories  of  heaven  or  the  terrors  of  hell,  or  of  the  turpitude 
of  transgression.  It  is  possessed  by  a  solemn  yet  indistinct 
thought  of  eternity,  of  an  endless  duration.  This  general 
idea  of  retribution,  however,  gradually  withdraws  the  mind 
that  cherishes  it  from  the  vanities  of  time  to  the  certainties 
of  eternity. 

So  it  is  with  him  whose  contemplations  and  love  are  fixed 
on  the  Lord  Jesus.  He  has  a  perception  more  or  less  clear, 
of  illustrious  merit,  of  an  excellence  to  which  human  lan- 
guage is  wholly  inadequate.  Must  not  this  habitual  con- 
templation exert  a  great  influence  on  the  intellect  ?  Is  it 
possible  to  love  such  a  being  as  Jesus  Christ  with  benefit  to 
the  religious  feelings  simply  ?  Will  not  the  mental  powers 
gradually  become  conscious  of  strength  and  elevation  ?  In 
moments  of  depression,  under  the  care  of  this  earthly  life, 
the  absolute  perfection  of  the  Saviour,  the  glorious  ideal,  in 
this  case  embodied,  comes  in  as  a  refreshment  to  the  spirit. 
It  does  not  operate  as  a  discouragement,  because  unattain- 
able by  man  ;  because  the  garland  is  on  a  height  to  which 
no  mortal  has  reached.  Such  is  the  nature  of  the  human 
soul,  that  it  needs  to  have  absolute  perfection  before  it.  In 
the  struggle  to  gain  what  it  cannot  gain  fully,  it  grows, 
rises,  and  is  happy.  One  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of 
misery  on  earth  is  that  we  reach  so  many  objects  after  which 
we  aspire. 

Secondly,  our  Saviour  is  an  immediate  and  palpable  ob- 
ject of  imitation.  He  has  qualities  which  can  be  most  dis- 
tinctly apprehended,  and  whose  influence  in  the  formation 


492  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

of  the  religious  character  of  his  disciples  can  be  measured 
and  understood.  But  does  not  this  process  of  assimilation 
affect  the  intellect  strongly  ?  Suppose  a  Harmony  of  the 
four  Gospels  is  read  with  patience  and  prayer,  and  with  a 
decided  intention  of  accurately  studying  the  character  of 
Jesus.  What  would  be  the  results  ?  A  deep  impression  of 
the  mystery  involved  would,  doubtless,  be  one  thing ;  that 
there  is  something  about  his  movements  strangely  inexpli- 
cable. We  should  also  be  impressed  with  the  originality  of 
his  character  as  a  man.  It  is  human,  and  yet  not  human. 
It  is  what  man  ought  to  be,  not  what  he  is.  The  character 
is  perfectly  natural  and  unaffected,  and  yet  it  is  not  human. 
Christ,  doubtless,  acted  and  looked  as  no  man  else  has  done. 
Yet  he  was  full  of  humanity.  Though  clothed  in  spotless 
holiness,  yet  he  was  eminently  attractive  as  a  brother  and 
friend.  Awful  fear  was  not  the  prevailing  passion  which 
he  excited.  His  disciples  evidently  loved  him  with  an 
earthly  love.  They  were  attached  to  him  as  they  would 
have  been  to  a  familiar  teacher.  We  imagine  how  he  would 
look,  and  how  he  would  address  us.  We  do  not  conceive 
of  him  as  reserved  in  his  conversation,  and  as  forbidding  in 
his  demeanor,  but  as  simple,  frank,  kind,  winning,  and  gen- 
tle. His  dignity  was  that  of  perfect  nature  and  of  perfect 
truth.  Intimacy  with  him  must  be  attended  with  the  great- 
est intellectual  benefits.  In  Jesus,  as  a  man,  we  have  the 
most  entire  confidence.  We  yield  ourselves  to  him  without 
reserve,  with  the  delightful  assurance  that  we  are  safe  in  so 
doing.  In  such  communion,  it  is  difficult  to  tell  whether 
the  intellect  or  the  heart  receives  the  greater  benefit.  Both 
grow  in  perfect  harmony  and  proportion.  The  eminently 
pious  man  has  intimate  communion  with  his  Saviour.  Con- 
sequently,  other  things   being  equal,    he    will  possess  the 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  493 

strongest  and  most  fruitful  intellect.  It  cannot  but  be  so. 
He  approaches  the  fountain  of  knowledge.  He  has  only  to 
open  his  mind,  and  influences  sweeter  than  all  the  gums  of 
Arabia  will  flow  in  upon  him.  He  that  walketh  with  wise 
men  will  be  wise.  What  wisdom  must  not  he  acquire  who 
walks  with  Jesus  ? 

This  conclusion  accounts  for  the  circumstance,  which 
has  been  frequently  remarked,  that  individuals  of  moderate 
capacities,  even  some  whose  obtuseness  of  intellect  was 
matter  of  general  notoriety,  are  emancipated,  on  becoming 
new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus,  from  their  mental  thraldom. 
The  old  intellect  has  passed  away.  Behold,  all  things,  in- 
tellectually, become  new.  A  rustic  apathy  gives  place  to 
wakeful  inquisitiveness.  The  vacant  and  sleepy  eye  is 
illuminated  with  new  life.  This  is  owing,  in  part,  to  the 
interest  with  which  they  study  the  character  of  Jesus.  They 
find  something  in  the  Gospels  particularly  congenial  to  their 
tastes.  They  wonder  at  the  gracious  words  which  Christ 
addressed  to  just  such  sinners  as  themselves,  and  while  they 
v^'onder,  they  are  sweetly  drawn  to  him  in  pure  affection  ; 
and  while  thus  attracted,  they  feel  the  chains  of  ignorance 
dropping  from  around  them.  They  gradually  penetrate 
deeper  into  the  mysteries  of  redemption,  while,  at  every 
step,  new  views  break  in  upon  them,  and  fresh  capacity  is 
added  to  them. 

7.  The  man  of  distinguished  holiness  will  be  under  the 
influence  of  the  strongest  motives  for  the  improvement  of 
his  mind.  One  of  these  is  love  to  Christ.  He  feels  that  it 
is  but  a  little  which  he  can  do  for  his  Saviour.  His  noblest 
offerings  will  fall  far  short  of  what  is  meet.  He  knows 
that  he  cannot  worthily  praise  him  to  whom  he  owes  all  his 

VOL.  II.  42 


494  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT   PIETY 

blessings.  Still  he  would  serve  his  Saviour  with  the  best 
which  he  has.  He  would  devote  to  him  that  on  which  he 
sets  the  highest  value,  the  products  of  his  rational  nature. 
He  can  send  up  no  richer  incense  than  that  which  rises  from 
the  altar  of  a  cultivated  and  consecrated  understanding.  He 
will  feel  a  restless  desire  to  augment  these  offerings  as  much 
as  possible,  to  make  all  practicable  intellectual  attainments 
for  the  purpose  of  honoring  his  Redeemer.  When  he  thinks 
of  the  love  which  has  paid  the  price  of  his  rescue,  he  has  a 
sense  of  profound  regret  that  he  has  so  abused  those  facul- 
ties which  might  have  been  employed  in  spreading  abroad 
that  Saviour's  love. 

Another  commanding  motive  is  an  impression  of  his  ac- 
countableness.  He  is  acting  under  the  eye  of  an  omnis- 
cient witness.  He  is  every  moment  drawing  nearer  to  the 
last  assize.  The  questions  are  even  now  sounding  in  his 
ears  :  "  My  inspiration  gave  you  understanding  ;  how  have 
you  employed  that  understanding  ?  Memory  was  my  gift ; 
did  you  enfeeble  it  in  sin  ?  I  intrusted  you  with  noble 
powers  of  reasoning ;  were  they  patiently  cultivated  an.d 
worthily  used  }  I  gave  you  imagination  that  you  might 
rise  above  the  cares  of  earth.  I  placed  you,  a  rational  and 
immortal  spirit,  amid  my  creation,  radiant  with  beauty, 
filled  with  all  objects  which  can  touch  the  heart  and  stir  the 
intellect.  Did  you  madly  shut  your  eyes  on  this  creation  ? 
I  spread  out  before  you  the  revelations  of  my  own  eternity. 
Were  you  a  thoughtful  student  of  these  revelations  .''  I 
made  you  in  my  own  moral  and  intellectual  image.  Have 
you  mutilated  and  defaced  that  image  }  " 

Such  are  the  questions  which  a  serious  Christian  will  pro- 
pound to  himself,  as  he  is  going  on  to  the  judgment.  He 
cannot  hide  his  Lord's  talents.     He  is  to  give  an  account 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  495 

for  all  his  intellectual  deeds  and  omissions ;  for  all  which 
he  might  have  accomplished,  but  which  he  failed  to  do, 
through  indolence,  false  modesty,  irresolution,  or  through 
dread  of  being  stigmatized  as  ambitious  and  aspiring. 

Benevolence  to  his  fellow-men  is  a  constraining  motive. 
He  sees  a  world  of  mind  buried  in  midnight  darkness,  — 
millions  alienated  from  their  Creator  by  wicked  works.  He 
is  penetrated  with  grief.  His  heart  is  filled  with  compas- 
sion for  their  woes.  But  mere  grief  will  not  rescue  them. 
Blind  compassion  will  not  lead  them  to  the  Saviour.  Under 
God,  they  are  to  be  saved  by  sanctified  intellect.  Mind  is 
to  act  on  mind.  Rational  agents  are  to  be  plied  with  all 
possible  motives  by  rational  agents.  Consecrated  learning 
is  the  engine  to  raise  up  the  whole  pagan  world  from  the 
night  of  ages  into  newness  of  life.  The  more  of  such  learn- 
ing, the  better.  The  richer  the  missionary  is  freighted  with 
it,  the  more  beautiful  are  his  feet  on  the  mountains.  Why 
was  Claudius  Buchanan  so  honored  and  so  able  an  instru- 
ment in  the  evangelization  of  India  ?  Because  he  studied 
mathematics  thoroughly  at  Oxford.  Why  could  Henry 
Martyn  translate  the  word  of  life  into  Persian,  and  stand  up 
alone,  a  fearless  defender  of  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God 
in  the  midst  of  taunting  and  angry  Moslems  ?  Because 
Henry  Martyn  had  studied  the  languages  thoroughly  at 
Cambridge.  Not  that  mere  mathematics  and  languages 
made  these  men  so  useful.  It  was  love  to  the  souls  of  the 
perishing  which  led  them  forth.  But  it  was  this  same  love 
that  induced  them  to  dig  deep  into  human  learning.  With- 
out knowledge  they  would  not  have  become  eminent  mis- 
sionaries. Just  in  proportion  as  a  Christian  has  a  compre- 
hensive and  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  pagan  world  or 
with  Christendom,  and  just  in  propoilion  as  he  is  desirous 


496  INFLUENCE    OF   EMINENT   PIETY 

to  be  instrumental  in  saving  men,  in  the  same  proportion 
will  he  wish  to  be  furnished  with  intellectual  acquisitions. 
Scope  will  be  found  for  his  widest  attainments. 

Our  general  purpose  in  this  Essay,  we  trust,  will  not  be 
misinterpreted.  The  impression  may,  possibly,  be  commu- 
nicated, that  the  intellect  and  human  learning  have  been 
lauded  at  the  expense  of  humble  and  warm-hearted  piety. 
Such  an  impression,  it  is  almost  needless  to  say,  would  be 
erroneous.  Our  intention  has  been  precisely  the  reverse. 
Certain  aspects  in  the  state  of  the  world,  or  some  impor- 
tant facts  in  the  providence  of  God,  have  been  among  the 
motives  which  have  induced  us  to  write  this  Essay ;  facts 
which,  in  our  opinion,  call  upon  the  enlightened  Christian 
to  review  the  ground  on  which  he  stands,  in  connection  with 
the  general  spread  of  Christianity. 

One  of  these  facts  is  the  cessation,  to  some  extent,  of  re- 
ligious controversy.  For  many  years  the  war  raged  in 
almost  every  division  of  the  Christian  Church.  There  is 
now,  at  least,  a  little  calm.  There  are  some  auspicious 
harbingers  of  a  brighter  day.  There  is  an  increasing  num- 
ber of  men  in  most  of  the  denominations,  who  are  heartily 
weary  of  studying  the  tactician's  manual,  and  of  blowing 
the  hoarse  trumpet  of  the  partisan.  It  would  seem  that  this 
generation  has  had  experience  enough  of  controversies,  most 
of  which  have  been  already  fought  over  a  thousand  times. 
May  there  not  be  an  opening  for  a  better  time  ?  May  there 
not  be  a  ten  years'  truce  ?  Cannot  Christianity  now  take  a 
decided  step  in  advance  ?  May  there  not  be  a  new  devel- 
opment of  her  benign  influence  }  Is  it  too  much  to  hope, 
that  men,  wearied  with  their  fruitless  and  barren  logoma- 
chies, will  turn  to  the  great  mysteries  of  redemption,  will 


ON    THE    INTELLECTUAL    POWERS.  497 

study  these  profoundly,  will  become  enriched  with  heavenly 
wisdom,  will  present  to  the  unbelieving  world  a  higher  style 
of  Christianity,  will  show  everywhere,  and  at  all  times,  that 
union  of  sanctified  affections,  candid  judgment,  and  elevated 
views,  which  grows  legitimately  out  of  their  religion,  and 
which  nothing  on  earth  can  resist  ?  Is  such  a  hope  falla- 
cious ? 

"  This  dire  perverseness,  we  cannot  choose  but  ask, 
Shall  it  endure?     Shall  enmity  and  strife, 
Falseliood  and  guile,  be  left  to  sow  their  seed, 
And  the  kind  never  perish  ? " 

Again,  when  our  theological  seminaries  were  founded, 
twenty  or  thirty  years  since,  it  was  confidently  predicted, 
that  a  radical  acquaintanc©  with  the  original  languages  of 
the  Bible,  and  a  scientific  study  of  its  doctrines,  would  in- 
troduce a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Church ;  that  Chris- 
tianity would  at  once  assume  a  more  interesting  form,  es- 
pecially in  respect  to  the"  harmony  of  views  with  which  it 
would  be  studied,  and  the  union  of  practical  effort  to  which 
this  study  would  lead.  Have  all  these  hopes  been  real- 
ized ?  There  are  between  one  and  two  thousand  clergy- 
men now  living  in  the  United  States,  who  were  educated  at 
these  seminaries.  What  are  they  doing  ?  Was  the  origi- 
nal expectation  unreasonable  ?  Is  not  the  study  of  the 
original  Scriptures  fitted  to  produce  the  good  fruits  which 
were  predicted  ?  We  fully  believe  that  it  is.  And  we  as 
fully  believe,  that  the  partial  failure  has  been  particularly 
owing  to  the  cause  which  has  been  discussed  in  this  article, 
—  the  want  of  a  union  of  sound  understanding  and  of  ele- 
vated views  with  pure  and  ardent  affections.  These  things 
have  been  mournfully  dissociated  in  the  ministry.  It  is  an 
impression,  somewhat  general,  that  an  intellectual  clergyman 


498  INFLUENCE    OF    EMINENT    PIETY 

is  deficient  in  piety,  and  that  an  eminently  pious  minister  is 
deficient  in  intellect.  It  has  not  been  understood  suflSciently, 
that  the  element  in  which  the  intellect  can  best  attain  its 
growth,  is  earnest  piety,  and  that  earnest  piety  cannot  main- 
tain an  existence  independently  of  knowledge.  Hence,  too, 
we  may  account  for  much  of  the  bigotry,  the  censorious- 
ness,  the  impetuous  temper,  the  tendency  to  rush  to  ex- 
tremes, the  withdrawment  from  fields  of  appropriate  labor, 
and  the  unsettled  state  of  the  pastoral  office,  which  have 
certainly  characterized  our  generation.  It  has  not  been 
remembered  that,  in  a  minister  of  Christ,  there  can  be  no 
substitute  for  a  constant  advance  in  knowledge.  He  viust 
grow  in  knowledge,  as  well  as  in  grace.  There  is  no  alter- 
native. A  settled  determination  in  the  great  body  of  the 
ministry  to  adhere  to  their  proper  work  in  the  place  where 
they  are  first  settled,  to  explore  the  original  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  all  its  exuberant  richness,  to  make  unintermitted 
progress  both  in  mental  and  spiritual  preparation  for  their 
work,  would  soon  invest  Christianity  in  a  new  aspect,  and 
much  accelerate  her  ultimate  triumph. 

A  large  number  of  private  Christians  have  been,  during 
many  years,  studying  the  Bible,  on  the  Sabbath,  in  an  asso- 
ciated capacity.  The  good  fruits  of  this  practice  have,  un- 
questionably, appeared,  and  still  more  beneficial  results  may 
be  reasonably  expected.  But  has  the  harvest  been  accord- 
ing to  the  seed  sown,  or  to  the  labor  bestowed  on  the  soil  ? 
How  many  of  these  Bible-class  students  have  become  ma- 
ture Christians,  —  to  whom  has  been  given  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  Jesus,  the  eyes 
of  their  understanding  being  enlightened,  so  that  they  al- 
ready know  what  is  the  hope  of  their  calling  and  what  are 
the  riches  of  the  glory  of  Christ's  inheritance  in  the  saints } 


ON    THE    INTELLECTIJAL    POWERS.  499 

Do  these  individuals  constitute,  as  they  should,  a  large 
body  of  sound,  intelligent,  magnanimous,  eminently  spiritual 
men  and  women,  the  salt  of  every  church,  the  light  of  every 
village  and  city  ?  Increased  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
they  undoubtedly  have.  But  is  it  not,  in  many  cases,  the 
mere  letter,  the  historical  fact,  the  geographical  locality,  or 
biographical  incident  ?  Do  they  live  in  that  world  of  rich 
conceptions  and  of  imperishable  truths  which  is  opened  to 
them  in  the  Bible,  and  which  is  their  purchased  inheritance  ? 
Their  advantages  are  ample  ;  their  privileges  abundant. 
Should  not  their  minds  be  pervaded  with  a  profound  sense 
of  their  obligations  ?  Considerations  of  the  most  affecting 
character,  drawn  from  the  circumstances  of  this  generation, 
and  of  the  next,  from  the  suffering  Church  of  Christ,  from 
heaven  and  from  hell,  demand  that  they  should  show,  in 
their  own  persons,  what  the  Bible  can  really  accomplish  in 
the  mind  and  in  the  heart  of  man. 

Once  more,  this  is  a  period  of  high  civilization.  We 
cannot  comfort  ourselves  with  the  notion,  that  it  is  a  super- 
ficial age,  one  of  shallow  and  unmeaning  excitement.  If 
it  is  a  period  of  intense  emotion,  it  is,  of  course,  one  of  in- 
tellectual development.  An  age  of  awakened  feeling  is 
necessarily  one  of  awakened  thought.  There  may  have 
been  greater  men  in  the  ranks  of  science  and  literature  in 
past  times.  But  the  number  of  acute,  sagacious,  strong- 
minded  mea  is  numerous  in  almost  every  Christian  land. 
In  some  of  the  central  countries  of  Europe,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  youth  acquire  an  education  much  superior  to  that 
obtained,  generally,  in  the  colleges  of  our  country.  In 
other  lands,  the  ranks  of  physical  science  are  thronged  with 
laborers,  constituting,  with  those  devoted  to  mechanical  im- 
provements, a  class  of  minds,  whose  influence  is  one  of  the 


500  INFLUENCE    OF   EMINENT    PIETY. 

most  pervading  and  predominant  in  society.  Unhappily,  a 
vast  majority  of  these  men  are  the  idolaters  of  this  present 
evil  world,  in  the  hot  pursuit  after  dreams  and  shadows, 
following  the  bubble  reputation  with  insane  eagerness. 

They  are  not,  however,  to  be  overlooked  or  despised. 
They  are  to  be  met  by  minds  as  sagacious  and  intrepid  as 
their  own.  Mere  feeling  they  esteem  as  straw  ;  naked  ex- 
hortation as  rotten  wood.  Their  heart  is  as  firm  as  a  stone, 
yea,  as  hard  as  a  piece  of  the  nether  millston*e.  The  preach- 
er or  the  Christian,  who  would  affect  them,  must  have  an 
energy  and  an  insight  corresponding  to  their  own  ;  not  being 
afraid  to  grapple  with  them  in  any  of  their  hiding-places ; 
to  whose  ministry,  or  to  whose  company,  they  are  willingly, 
and  yet  unwillingly,  attracted.  Such  men  are  not  to  be 
conquered  by  piety  like  that  of  the  Moravians,  simple-hearted, 
affectionate,  and  worthy  of  all  commendation  as  it  is.  These 
have  another  sphere  of  labor,  and  most  gloriously  have  they 
occupied  it.  But  educated  mind  must  be  confronted  with 
educated  mind.  By  the  same  voice  which  calls  us  into  the 
field,  we  are  summoned  to  study  the  signs  of  the  times,  to 
understand  the  force  of  the  enemy,  and  the  temper  of  our 
own  weapons,  so  that  we  may  stand  up  in  the  shock  of  the 
conflict;  and,  having  done  all,  stand.  Mere  learning,  how 
great  soever  it  may  be,  is  a  miserable  dependence.  But 
the  union  of  knowledge  with  humility  and  with  sanctified 
affections,  is  mighty,  through  God,  to  the  pulling  down  of 
the  strongholds  in  which  any  class  of  unbelievers  may  have 
intrenched  themselves. 


